San Antonio church helps near home
___SAN ANTONIO--More than a freeway separated Baptist Temple from the low-income neighborhood a quarter-mile to the east. But this summer, volunteers from the southeast San Antonio church bridged economic and cultural chasms to make a difference in the community.
___"Last year, we did a Habitat for Humanity project as a church for the first time," said Mark Newton, pastor of Baptist Temple. The low-income housing construction project was one of nine "Beyond These Walls" community ministries sponsored by church.
___This summer beginning in early July, volunteers from Baptist Temple returned to the same neighborhood.
___"Crossing the freeway was like breaking through a barrier," Newton said. "It feels like part of our community now."
___Working weekends alongside volunteers from Lackland Air Force Base and several businesses in San Antonio, members of Baptist Temple built a three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot home for a family next door to the house they built last year.
___"We had all ages out there. There was an 82-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy putting sheet rock up next to each other," said Aurelia Newton, who served as chairwoman of the Habitat committee at Baptist Temple.
___While some church members hammered nails and sawed boards, others provided child care for the volunteer carpenters, served water to the laborers or prepared meals for workers.
___Funding for the project was provided in part through a $25,000 grant from the Norwest/Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. Church members helped raise the remaining $15,000.
___Events included a "hop-a-thon" for kids, a "hoop-a-thon" basketball event for youth and a "jail-a-thon" for adults.
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