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The campers and mentors of GraceWorks have been busy this summer rebuilding the 10 raised vegetable beds and three sister gardens. We have taken the time to create a pollination garden which will draw more insects, butterflies and bees to our gardens and neighborhood. The insects will feed the young birds hatched in the birdhouses we built to encourage the native birds to return to the Woodlawn neighborhood. We are very appreciative of the grant we received from Cawaco RC&D, Inc. The grant allowed GraceWorks to improve our green space, gardens and greenhouse.  

The GraceWorks building, dubbed “Grace Place,” has received all new metal side doors, had electrical wiring installed, and the bathrooms, kitchen, and St. Stephen’s Love Laundry room have all been rough-plumbed. Also, at least one side of all walls has been sheet-rocked. The sanctuary has a new ceiling, and the chancel and the pews are being refurbished. The inside and outside ramps have been completed. We are waiting on the heating/air installation and then our final city inspection.  After the inspection, the rest of the sheetrock can go up, and each room can be completed for occupancy.  Volunteers from St. Stephen’s, and St. Mary’s, along with St. Luke’s youth, members of Holy Cross Church in Trussville, GraceWorks participants, and a dedicated group of men from several churches who have worked every Thursday throughout the year have played a major role in the restoration of the building.  

GraceWorks has completed another successful summer. We opened the ministry up to full capacity, with 95% of the campers being residents of Woodlawn. Many walked to and from the church each day. The staff consisted of seven High School students. Three were graduates from the GraceWorks ministry, and another two were residents of Woodlawn.  

The workshops were a big hit with campers and volunteers. All were impressed with the models they built after hours of following detailed instructions and remaining focused during the modeling workshop. The campers were amazed at the skills they learned during the Calligraphy and card-making workshop. The other two workshops involved a lot of energy, movement, laughter, and determination as everyone participated in the Team games and Ballet and Hip Hop dance.    

Our time learning to mow, weed eat, paint, build dog houses, garden, and sack groceries paid off with the campers learning how to work together to accomplish large goals such as beautifying a historic cemetery, painting outdoor murals, delivering shelter to 3 large dogs, harvesting vegetables, and providing support to the food pantry. Their favorite team task was completing the rainbow painting of the food forest rod iron fence. With the help of the St. Peter’s youth group from New Jersey, a very colorful fence now highlights the GraceWorks food forest.     

Our daily Spiritual time was filled with discussions and discoveries of the faithfulness of Biblical young people who faced problems and life issues similar to today’s youth struggles. The facts learned often became interesting points addressed during the weekly Eucharist services. This year six priests from the diocese led our spiritual times and Eucharists. 

Although our Friday trips were interrupted by the weather and COVID issues, we enjoyed the Cook Museum of Natural Science, a fishing trip to Lake Head, a waterfall, a cookout, and swimming at Oak Mountain, Camp McDowell, and our favorite trip to Point Mallard Splash Park. 

Unfortunately, the group’s exposure to COVID towards the end of the summer meant we could not have the annual celebration dinner. However, each child received their certificate, trophy, Calligraphy pens, models, personal photo books, and other GraceWorks items. The success of the 2022 summer program was summed up by campers stating they would be back next summer and the older campers making plans to apply for a position as a staff member next summer.

                                          –The Rev. Deacon Kay Williams

The weather is warming up and school is almost out for the summer. It’s about time for GraceWorks to begin the 2022 summer program. We are looking forward to the Calligraphy, Model making, Race Relations, and Hip Hop/ Ballet dance workshops being prepared for the campers. Our Friday trips will include trips to the Cahaba River Society, Cook Museum of Natural Science, Oak Mountain, Ava Marie Grotto exposition, Camp McDowell, and Point Mallard Splash Park. 

Any youth ages 10 to 14 can fill out an application and join the seven weeks of adventures, fun, and hands-on life lessons. GraceWorks offers a safe place to increase personal talents, discover nature, and individual spiritual growth at no charge. As usual breakfast and lunch will be served daily. All supplies for tasks, building, creating, workshops, and trips are provided.

All campers will develop vocational skills relating to carpentry and landscaping as they work side by side with their mentors creating a food forest, planting, and harvesting vegetables, and participating in the refurbishing of the multipurpose Grace Place building. 

GraceWorks begins June 5^th at 7:30 am and continues every week Monday through Friday until July 22^nd. Spend seven weeks of your summer with us learning, growing, and enjoying new adventures.  

GraceWorks 2022 Student Application • GraceWorks 2022 Staff Application • Amazon WishList

Now accepting applications for Staff & Campers for GraceWorks 2022: June 6 through July 22, 2022!

A big part of ministry is being ready and willing to say “yes” to the call of the Holy Spirit. This call is often revealed in the opportunities to address the daily needs of one’s neighbors and others we encounter on the Christian journey. In Graceworks we witness God taking the willingness to say “yes” and blessing the offering of our labor. In early 2013, Grace Church, Woodlawn received a phone call from a concerned grandparent who was in need of a safe place for her preteen grandchildren, during the summer, while she was at work. After some discussion and prayer we came to see this need as an opportunity for Grace Church to share Christ’s love with others our neighborhood to whom we had not directly reached out before.

Beginning with a $2000 grant from the Diocesan Mission and Outreach department, GraceWorks ministry was created to serve children ages 10-14 years of age. The summer program would run 5 days a week for 7 weeks and was intended to provide inner city youth with opportunities to participate in service projects, educational enrichment activities and spiritual exploration. The program was open without cost to everyone of the appropriate age who completed an application and had transportation to the church. God’s abundant blessings would be shared with all campers, volunteers, and the staff beginning with daily hot breakfasts, nutritious lunches, drinks, snacks, all the tools needed for projects, and the costs covered for all activities and the Friday adventure trips.

Each of the program’s activities have been structured to nurture the whole child through positive character development, spiritual growth, artistic creativity, encouragement of career interests, and cultivation of a good work ethic. Four days a week the young participants engage in prayer, art, personal growth, workshops and attend a service of Holy Eucharist designed for their age level. The majority of the activities revolve around guided participation in community projects. Over the years GraceWorks has grown and provides each participant with the basic skill sets needed for competitive employment, cooperative team work, along with hands-on opportunities for discovering personal interests, spiritual awareness, and practical abilities that improve educational and vocational potential.

Through a simple yes God has blessed GraceWorks growth in many ways. Our staff has evolved to consist of the ministry’s graduates, AmeriCorps Vista workers along with many volunteers from different churches and the community. GraceWorks participation has increased from one child the first day to 25 campers a summer. GraceWorks has also grown in its physical location. Beginning with the original green space, the campers with mentors’ assistance have built a wheelchair accessible labyrinth, a green house, a storage building, a four-barrel rainwater catchment system and many raised garden beds.

When GraceWorks again replied with a yes, a vacant lot directly across from GraceWorks’ green space was donated, doubling our outdoor space. The lot has provided the campers the opportunity to amend soil, build an 11-barrel rain catchment system, and maintain a rod iron fence erected across the back and sides of the lot. The campers have found success in the completion of small projects that build on large long-term goals that eventually improve the larger community. Their activities speak to the teamwork and construction lessons learned as the ministry’s participant’s work to help Woodlawn neighbors address issues of food insecurity and contribute to a more productive future.

As GraceWorks presence has expanded in the neighborhood the elderly and disabled neighbors have requested assistance with yard upkeep and small home repairs. Each vested request answered with a yes has opened an avenue for the children to be mentored in demonstrating God’s love with their growing skills. Each summer the hands on activities, workshops, daily spiritual time, theme-centered Holy Eucharist service, and adventures reinforce the spiritual concept throughout the camp. Over the years the messages have grown from simple ideas about God our Creator to the presence of God in relationship with each of us and our relationships with one another. Weekly the campers are given the space and opportunities needed to apply and reinforce the spiritual knowledge shared with them. The campers are mentored in how to share Christ’s love through community activities such as repairing porches, refurbishing furniture to the building of outdoor structures and painting outdoor community murals. As the participants have enhanced neighborhoods their positive impact on the daily lives of the economically challenged residents has been noticed, respected and appreciated. As the teens respond to the needs of the elderly and the disabled residents of the community they have become a visible example of Christ’s love in action. All participants enjoy the opportunity to answer with a yes when GraceWorks is approached with a community need.

Several years ago when GraceWorks responded with yet another yes, God literally opened the doors to provide some much needed indoor physical space for the growing ministry. The yes resulted in GraceWorks accepting the donation of an abandoned church building. The old church building is directly adjacent to the green space used by GraceWorks attendees each summer for community service projects and vegetable beds. It is also located less than half a block behind the Grace Episcopal Church proper. Now unofficially known as “Grace Place,” the building is well into renovations through the efforts of parishioners of Grace Episcopal Church, St. Stephen’s, St, Luke’s, St. Mary’s on the Highlands, All-Saints, as well as a number of other churches and volunteers. Progress so far includes the framing for St. Stephen’s Love Laundry room, a kitchen, several classrooms, bathrooms and a vocational shop. The acceptance of the building has broadened GraceWorks vision from a summer youth center into a multipurpose building which will host and house a wide range of service efforts and programs for the Woodlawn neighborhood. Our hope is to eventually offer ministries such as free laundry service, after school tutoring, a warming station, and retraining the unemployed in construction skills when the summer youth program is not in session. Our plans also include a place of worship for the community. The sanctuary area will be entirely refurbished in a style consistent with the Episcopal tradition while maintaining the aesthetic of the 1920’s neo-Gothic architecture. It will be used as a chapel by the GraceWorks staff and youth and will also be made available to area faith communities in need of physical space to meet and worship.

Like so many churches and nonprofits last year we were unable to have our usual robust summer of activities due to the pandemic. Our main fund raiser was cancelled and all the food bought for the catfish picnic was donated to Community Kitchens. Although our campers could not participate last summer we were able to accept two Vista workers and a GraceWorks graduate as staff members. We also set up appointments for families and a few small youth groups to come work with us throughout the summer. While working outside and helping out Community Kitchens the GraceWorks staff saw the effects the pandemic had on the homeless. All local businesses and churches closed which left Community Kitchen’s guests with no restroom access. The GraceWorks staff saw the situation as a chance to say yes to the community. After a little research GraceWorks built a portable hand-washing station from a recycled food pantry cart. Currently the hand-washing station is accessible daily from 9am until 2:30pm to anyone walking by Community Kitchens located at Grace Church, Woodlawn.

GraceWorks has decided to say yes and have campers return this summer. We will limit our number of campers to 15. We will practice the CDC safety recommendations for outside and inside gatherings. We invite all our partners and new friends to join us in this summer’s yes as we overcome new challenges relating to the many COVID-19 health precautions. We realize sharing Christ with the children and community again will only happen through the prayers, support and generosity of our loyal partners such as the Episcopal Diocese, many of the Episcopal Churches, other faith-based organizations, community groups, local businesses and individuals. A yes can be as easy as adding GraceWorks to your prayer list, gathering up supplies, sponsoring a meal, being a volunteer for an activity, being a driver on a Friday, donating old tools,(hoes, shovels, rakes) individually wrapped snacks or drinks. Volunteers, building supplies and financial support are also always welcomed at Grace Place.

A huge Thank you and deeply felt appreciation to everyone who has walked with us and provided much needed assistance as a volunteer, with in-kind donations and financial support over the past eight years.

Yes Jesus in our play, work and growth,
Kay Williams -GraceWorks director

On Direct Service and Indirect Progress
By Janice Washington

It is hard to believe that my summer assignment with GraceWorks is coming to a close. As I reflect back on my Summer of Service there are so many things I could talk about. This summer our team celebrates:

• The successful re-laying of over 2,000 bricks to continue the wheelchair accessibility of the community garden
• The construction of a rainwater catchment system that will be used in future efforts to combat food insecurity
• An organized two-room food pantry
• The successful construction of a portable hand washing station to help Woodlawn’s homeless combat Covid-19
• Research and data collection to inform future grant narratives
• A cleared fence line to preserve the dignity of a local/historic cemetery
• A maintained community garden, such that it continues to yield a harvest of tomatoes, peppers watermelon, cantaloupe, and peas
• Teambuilding exercises that serve to grow our strengths as both individuals and group members.

These are projects that we can collectively ascribe a checkmark next to. Sweat on our brows and determination in our beings, there is marked evidence of the work we’ve done. What happens, however, when that evidence is not so clear? This too, I’ve learned to celebrate:

GraceWorks is repurposing an abandoned church. It will ultimately be a center for worship and workforce development. In short, community members will be able to walk in under-resourced and walk out empowered, walk-in with little experience, and walk out certified. The building, as it stands, leaves much to be desired. While sledgehammering some plaster with my coworkers a couple of days ago, I watched as plaster, wood, beams, and nails fell to the floor in a puff of cement dust. This church has been gutted. There are tools lying about, windows are boarded up, and wheelbarrows are parked here and there waiting for a load of rubble.

To a stranger, GraceWorks is hammering away at a lost cause, a mess, a building that will never live beyond its former glory. My coworker points to what appears to be the framework for a doorway. “Why are they putting a door here when there is nothing but a wall behind it,” she asked. Our supervisor responded, “It’s a temporary support wall. Our goal is to replace the load-bearing wall behind it. A support wall has to be put into place until the old wall is replaced with a wall strong enough to sustain the weight.”

That illustration is what I leave this program with: Sometimes the work we put our hands to seems silly and useless when the results aren’t immediate. Sometimes when you’re standing in the middle of a mess with a sledgehammer, a hardhat and dirt-streaked face, the muddle of where you are eclipses the vision of what it is to become. In short, we are called to be the support wall, to stand in the gap, to bear the weight. We are called to take a position, even when doing so invites scoffing. We are the support wall—nothing fancy about its appearance, nothing lofty about its function. You see the presence of a support wall guarantees a few things: the old will come down. The process will be messy with weak spots along the way. But a new wall is coming and it will be strong enough to fortify the building wherein we stand. The presence of a support wall is a quiet declaration in the midst of chaos that new things are being done.

Now, if I point to the abandoned church and say, “We’ve done a lot of work there” or “This building will change lives,” you may look at our dirty clothes and the gravity of what is remaining, and chuckle. The way GraceWorks has approached this building is the way GraceWorks approaches the community that surrounds it and (dare I say), the way God approaches the broken. I know it looks bad, but something assures me that that the good work that has been started, will in fact be completed. Something tells me that be it a shattered window or a shattered person, GraceWorks will continue its commitment to bear the weight until the building and the people it will serve can stand on their own.

So wait for it: The old will give way to new. Shall you not know it? It will spring up like a building once forgotten, a person once dismissed, and an evergreen in the desert.

I celebrate our definitive wins this summer and our baby steps towards a bigger win later in the season.

As GraceWorks enters the midpoint of the modified 2020 summer ministry we would like to do a shout out to Saint Luke’s youth. They have worked with us every other Thursday. Together we have been clearing a historical cemetery’s fence line. We have also had the Mize family join us one day a week. Together we mowed, weeded, and maintained the vegetable beds of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, green beans, watermelon, herbs, and peppers. Many days the youth and children have learned new skills and enjoy surveying and talking about their accomplishments.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GraceWorks has only AmeriCorps Vista members and a graduate camper preparing to be staff next year on the campuses each day. Our AmeriCorps staff performs direct service and administrative tasks during their 40 hour week at the GraceWorks site. We would like to share one member’s first impressions of GraceWorks and then her reflection as we came to the midpoint of the summer ministry. 

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Clear a Path: Reflections from an AmeriCorps Member
By Janice Washington

AmeriCorps brings me to Grace Episcopal Church. Conceived by President John F. Kennedy, brought into fruition by the Lindon B. Johnson Administration, it is the domestic version of the Peace Corps. From nonprofits to municipalities, from educational institutions to faith-based organizations, AmeriCorps members serve at the intersection of capacity building and direct service across the nation. Countless volunteers have rolled up their sleeves in service to America since the program’s inception. Its mantra is simple: “Go where you’re needed.” This summer, I am needed at Grace Works. I would quickly find that in many ways, I in fact needed Grace Works too.

Imagine this: I began the program at a strange time in our country: America—the one immigrants flock to for opportunity, the one refugees seek for asylum—was on fire, literally, metaphorically, politically, and morally. The news had become a mosaic of Corona Virus death reports, Black Lives Matter signs, peaceful protests, broken windows, emphatic rioting, and militarized police brigades. I could not hear e Pluribus Unum over the sound of police sirens and heated rhetoric debating whether right was a shade of blue or a shade of red. There was much to grieve, much to process.

Dawned in my neon yellow work shirt, I’ve spent my first week learning about the needs of the community and the way Grace Episcopal Church has positioned itself to meet those needs. Taking interest in the whole human, this church undoubtedly embodies the “Go where you’re needed” sentiment that AmeriCorps champions. While weed eating the greenspace next door to the church, the director walked over and showed me a technique that helps blend the grass to give it a neater appearance. “You have to clear a path,” she said as she showed me a more efficient way to maneuver my weed eater.

Those words stuck with me. While I’m working, I’m often in deep thought about the state of our nation as well as that of my internal disposition. As I employed her technique, “Clear a path” continued to resonate. Sometimes the path is littered with trash and overgrown with weeds. Sometimes those weeds are our yards and sometimes they are in our justice system. Sometimes the path is rocky where it should be grassy and grassy where it should be paved. Sometimes the path is unclear, and you simply must take what you’re equipped with and clear it yourself.

Armed with a weed eater, I cleared a path. In doing so, I left the environment in better condition than when I found it. And just like the director, who offered up effective methodology for getting the job done, it will be my responsibility to share the wealth, when the weeds get high and good fruit is threatened. That day, I was proud to be a part of a team that continues to do the work needed— come heat or rain, Corona or Flu, protest or riot, discipline others to do the same. This type of work points to a narrow path and bloodshed of an altogether different nature. This is Grace Works—grace, at work.

It is my honor to spend my summer of service in her midst.

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One Man’s Trash: Janice Washington’s reflection midpoint of GraceWorks 2020

As an AmeriCorps Summer Associate for GraceWorks, I’m finding that our projects are diverse, but our aim is singular: To meet the needs that present themselves. One day we’re preserving the Integrity of a Historic Cemetery, the next we are constructing a rainwater collection system, the next we are organizing the food pantry, and the list goes on.

One particular day we were working on making the community garden wheelchair accessible. The endeavor involved lots of patience and lots of bricks. My fellow service member, who had been chiseling off some of the bricks accidentally broke one and called out to inform Ms. Kay. “I think I may have overachieved a bit with this brick,” she said in her lighthearted way.

Ms. Kay responded, “Place it in this pile over here, we may be able to use it.” What I’ve discovered is that her response is the same for everything, not just the bricks.

Exhibit A: A cart breaks. Response: Pulls out power tools and refurbishes it instead of tossing it out. It’s limited in what it can carry, but we still use it to transport items that we need.

Exhibit B: Multi-gallon Mountain Dew syrup canisters are no longer in use. Response: Refashions them to store water that will be used to maintain fruit-bearing trees for the community in the food forest.

There are countless examples, but at the heart of this habit is a statement: “Not all things labeled “trash” should be discarded. GraceWorks reconsiders. GraceWorks recycles. Point, Blank, Period. This program ascribes value where others see nothing more than garbage. It unlocks potential. It assigns purpose, calls forth a mighty army out of dry bones.

GraceWorks remembers the forgotten, sees humanity in the drug addict and looks on the hungry with compassion. Society may say “trash,” GraceWorks whispers “treasure.”

It is as simple as repurposing a broken brick. Sometimes, we have to reevaluate the category that we place people, places, and things in. Sometimes we must cease from our haste long enough to re-envision the people we pass, places we disregard, and things we consider useless.

In the spirit of Grace Episcopal Church, “Put it in a [different] pile. We may be able to use it.”  

A note from program director Kay Williams:

I want to update you on the decision we have made in regards to GraceWorks for the summer of 2020. GraceWorks will continue although modified. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, we will not have our usual camp of young children. Instead, GraceWorks has partnered with the AmeriCorps Vista program for college students. GraceWorks has been authorized to have up to four AmeriCorps college students employed to ensure GraceWorks continues to move forward for the children and community.

The AmeriCorps staff will do their administrative assignments from home and also complete their on-site hours by working with me to utilize the vegetable beds to grow and harvest fresh produce for Community Kitchens and Grace’s Food Pantry weekly guests. The green space, Woods historic cemetery, Food Forest, rain catchment systems and Grace Place building will all be maintained and continue the work needed to move our projects forward.

Currently, I have scheduled times for individual families to come with their children and help prep the gardens for the growing season. Keeping to this plan of working with only one family a day allows us to follow strict physical distancing while allowing the children to continue to participate and learn. Additionally, we will be back working on the Grace Place renovations next week. (Just a few at a time. The building is big enough for a few to work in different areas and be isolated from each other doing different tasks.) If the community does not see anyone over at the building it will become tempting for some to try and break-in, even though we have an alarm system.

I have developed an Amazon wish list for items we will need this summer to continue our modified GraceWorks ministry. I have also included the AmeriCorps link for any college student interested in applying for a summer position at GraceWorks.

Blessings, and stay safe,
Kay

A huge THANK YOU for all who supported, prayed, participated, and contributed to providing the 20 participants of the 2019 GraceWorks summer ministry a fun, educational and spiritual time of growth. From the stipend-supported young adults serving as staff to the youngest participant: all grew in self-awareness and the knowledge they were loved unconditionally by God.

When asked what they had learned this summer, some of their replies were: “I learned how to use a reciprocating saw, how to fix a bike, how to garden, how to pick vegetables, how to paint, how to build new things, there are a lot of new things I can learn to do like mowing, and how to use a weed eater”. When asked what did they learn about themselves this summer the children and teens replied they learned: “how not to react when I get mad,” “how to stay unbothered, how to have self-control,” and “I can do hard work until it is done.”

Although the kids have completed the summer portion of GraceWorks, the program  continues to move forward in many other areas. The GraceWorks Oversite and Building Board meet monthly to ensure progress in the repurposing of the Grace Place Building.

We have partnered with other Episcopal Churches, and youth groups to bimonthly help maintain the green spaces, work in the food forest, cemetery and in the Grace Place building. We have partnered with the Woods Cemetery organization to clean up the back alley fence line and cemetery. Since the back fence line has been cleared, the amount of loitering and litter behind the church has already decreased.

The GraceWorks fundraiser committee has set the date of October 5th, 2019, for our first annual fundraiser, Catfish and Karaoke. The fundraiser will take place at Willow Woods park and recreation center 1 to 5. As always, volunteers, sponsors, and partners are needed and welcomed!

Our next scheduled workdays are September 7th and October 5th. More will be added as the building progress warrants the volunteer help.

Thank you again to all with willing hearts to serve the children of GraceWorks,
Kay Williams