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Beautiful Day 2020

Blessed by Beautiful Day

In the midst of so much challenge in our communities today, we are excited and humbly grateful to have you share in our October good news! We were chosen as a service project of Beautiful Day, an all-volunteer, annual local compassion event, to receive an estimated $30,000+ in enhancements to our Advent's Boys' Home!

Since its inception in 2004, Beautiful Day has sought to spread compassion and kindness while inspiring neighborly goodwill. Project leaders and volunteers from all backgrounds invest in local Santa Clara communities, a weekend each year, with no- strings attached, providing hands-on skills otherwise unattainable. This year, while volunteers safely navigated the pandemic, 21 projects were tackled on the weekend of October 17th and 18th. As one of those selected projects, our St. John's residential home for young men recovering from addiction was blessed with a new lawn and garden (complete with hand-built planter boxes) as well as improvements to the gym and outdoor basketball courts. In addition to cosmetic and usability enhancements, a newly built fence now provides increased safety to the youth as an added barrier to freeway access. Amazing! 

So inspiring was the selfless heart of those volunteers investing in the work at Advent, that a current teen recovering in the home actually asked to personally address the crowd of volunteers. He expressed his challenge of waking each day to recovery and sweetly reminisced on his first thought to seeing the early morning volunteers. "You guys don't have better things to do?" he said with a chuckle. He asked a couple of people why they volunteered, what stuck out to him was the response he received of "it's something I do to relieve myself, I get a lot of help and I want to give back". He goes on to humbly acknowledge his initial thinking saying, "I wouldn't be doing this if I don't get rewarded or anything you know". But...he did choose to volunteer himself, both days, stating, "Why not do it, you know like something I see from you guys... if people are willing to come together and put in the time things can happen, you know you guys are not getting paid for this so I just want to say thank you". He goes on to share a reflection on his time at Advent and the advice he will take away to not try and do everything himself but to instead ask for help and help will be given. He ends with the acknowledgment of his reward for serving to be a movement in the heart. Wow! What a testament to the power of compassion driving community, caring for our youth, and loving our neighbor! 

We are delighted and grateful for your partnership and hope you are as inspired as we are. Thank you again to Beautiful Day and the many volunteers helping to restore not only buildings but the lives and relationships of Advent families.

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