Darlene Blagg and Melissa Dyck
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) – For 32 years,
Patchwork Central has been a staple of the Washington Avenue neighborhood in Evansville, Ind.
Today, Patchwork has become an intentional community of friends that walk alongside each other, blending work, worship and fellowship.
Begun by three couples from Emory University in Atlanta with a vision to live, serve and worship together, Patchwork provides a safe, open space for children’s programs, a food pantry, a worshipping community and a variety of other ministries.
“For me, finding Patchwork was finally finding a group of people who believed in the same things I did and who cared about social justice. It was finding a true community,” said Shawn Craddock, office manager at Patchwork.
Since 1988, the Patchwork community has welcomed Mennonite Voluntary Service participants into their fold to help lead existing ministries and begin new ones.
Mennonite Voluntary Service, one of Mission Network’s Christian Service programs, invites adults of all ages and backgrounds to spend a one or two-year term living in community and serving in a variety of locations across the United States.
“You can be part of the volunteer community here in Evansville, but there’s also this Patchwork community that you’re automatically a part of,” said Amy Rich, Patchwork, co-director of Patchwork with her husband, John, who came to Evansville as an MVS participant in 1997.
Current MVS participants Melissa Dyck of Winkler, Manitoba and Miriam Regier of Newton, Kan., have felt welcomed into the work and worship of the Patchwork community. Each week, members of the Patchwork community gather to share a meal and to worship together at the Patchwork Central Meetinghouse, where other ministries are hosted as well.
“I’ve experienced the community like a big blanket that wraps around you. With both Melissa and I being new here we didn’t have a community right away, and Patchwork sort of just enveloped us in a very warm positive way,” said Regier.
Each worship service includes the celebration and sharing of communion as a recommitment to the community and its shared purpose. Members of the Patchwork community have walked with each other through ups and downs, changes and growth in ministry, sickness and health and have become like family to each other.
“Patchwork has helped broaden my definition of community and faith. It’s this group of folks who might never be friends in any other setting except here,” said Dyck, “But they are very intentional about gathering and cultivating community with each other and in the neighborhood.”
This sense of community and faith spills over into ministry. Patchwork Central is a hub for people and programs in the Washington Avenue neighborhood. Each day, children’s programs, a food bank, an HIV/AIDS clinic and other programs may all be up and running. Members of the neighborhood feel comfortable stopping by to grab a bite to eat, taking a shower at Patchwork if they are without one, or sitting and talking with staff members.
“We hope that people in this neighborhood know who we are and know that they’re welcome here. We want people to know they’ve got somewhere to come have coffee or talk to a friend,” said Craddock.
And Dyck and Regier have used their own gifts to shape existing programs, just as other Evansville volunteers have done before.
“The community is always excited to see volunteers come expand programs and get involved where you’re really interested,” said Rich.
Dyck, a food science major at the University of Manitoba, works at the River City Food Co-op, a whole foods store housed in the bottom of the unit house begun by former MVSers John and Leah Eads. Each week, Dyck helps to prepare a healthy, organic meal for people from the neighborhood and the Patchwork community who come to eat and fellowship at the co-op.
Regier helps to plant a community garden and prepares a healthy snack for children in the after-school program every day. Kids often volunteer to help her cook and clean up as well, which gives Regier a chance to talk with the kids and teach them about healthy food preparation.
For more information on Mennonite Voluntary Service and Mennonite Mission Network's other Christian service programs, visit Service.MennoniteMission.net.