Make a difference in your community
Join us for Serve Day on June 6th! This is a unique opportunity for the Graceway community to come together and serve our local community. We’ll be lending a helping hand to people and organizations in Kansas City & Raytown, showing the love of Christ through our actions. Don’t miss out on this chance to make a real impact and meet new people who share your passion for serving others.
Please note: all teams will report to Graceway at 8:00 AM on Saturday, June 6th, before heading to their sites, with the exception of Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity.
Have questions? Read through our FAQ at the bottom of this page.
Serve Day projects are broken down into the following categories
How to get involved in Serve Day
1
Signup for text updates
Click “get text updates” below or text “SERVE” to 816-685-0046.
2
Find an opportunity to serve
Come back on May 22 to find a serve day opportunity that interests you.
3
Join us on June 25th
Join us on June 25, 2022, at 9:00 am for a kick-off party, then head over to your individual serve site.
SHELTERS & HOUSING PROGRAMS
Community LINC
Community LINC provides comprehensive housing programs, support services, and financial coaching to help families transition from crisis to stability. This project will focus on preparing apartments for the next family to move in, which includes cleaning, decorating, moving furniture, painting, vacuuming, etc. Office organization and outdoor campus cleanup may also be part of the work, depending on the organization’s needs on the day of.
Team Capacity: 25
Mother’s Refuge
Mother’s Refuge exists to shelter and educate homeless, pregnant, and parenting young women by providing comprehensive services that empower them to make successful life decisions for themselves and their babies. This project will involve cleaning and organizing, painting, and some yard work, as well as sorting donations.
Team Capacity: 25
Journey to New Life (18+ Only)
Journey to New Life facilitates the empowerment of people reentering society from prison or other involvement with the criminal legal system by accepting them as they are, and providing first-stop services, residences, case management, and employment assistance in a safe and supportive environment. This project will involve organizing the clothing closet and re-entry house basement, as well as gardening and other yard work.
Team Capacity: 20
River of Refuge
River of Refuge transitions homeless families with jobs from high-rent motels, non-traditional housing, and shelters into permanent housing. This project will involve a variety of indoor and outdoor projects, including painting, cleaning, yard work, window washing, and trash pickup.
Team Capacity: 25
Temple Heights
Temple Heights is an independent living community, offering 289 apartment homes with Section 8 rental assistance to individuals 55 and up. This project will focus on assisting residents by hauling items from their apartments to the trash dumpster. These items range from cardboard boxes to furniture.
Team Capacity: 12
Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity (18+ Only, 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity is transforming lives in Eastern Jackson County by building affordable housing, revitalizing neighborhoods, and strengthening communities. This project will focus on a new home build currently in progress in Independence, MO, working at the site from 8:00 AM-2:00 PM.
Team Capacity: 12
City Union Mission – Team 1
City Union Mission is a Christ-centered homeless shelter in Kansas City offering meals, safe shelter, and life-changing recovery programs. This project will focus on washing and detailing cars that will be given to City Union Mission’s graduates as a reward for completing the program.
Team Capacity: 20
FAMILY SERVICES & EDUCATION
Eastwood Hills Elementary (18+ Only)
Eastwood Hills Elementary is a public school in the Raytown C-2 School District and one of Graceway’s school partners through the Caring for Kids Network. This project will focus on cleaning out the school courtyard and replacing the dirt with river rocks. This team will also work on cleaning out and replanting the flower beds around the flagpole and bus door areas.
Team Capacity: 10
The Hope Center KC
The Hope Center KC’s mission is to provide programming for students K-12 through asset-based programming. Throughout the year, Hope Center celebrates and honors each of its children, youth, and families as they focus on their individual strengths. This project will focus on community garden upkeep, campus landscaping, and neighborhood beautification.
Team Capacity: 25
Raytown Schools Kindergarten Backpacks
This project will happen on-site at Graceway. This team will organize school supplies into backpacks for every incoming kindergarten student in the Raytown C-2 School District for the upcoming school year.
Team Capacity: 25
Trailwoods Elementary (18+ Only)
Trailwoods Elementary is a public school in the Raytown C-2 School District and one of Graceway’s school partners through the Caring for Kids Network. This project will involve assembling furniture, sorting and organizing the book room and resource room, general cleaning, and some office/photocopying support.
Team Capacity: 18
ADOPT-A-STREET & RAYTOWN PARKS
Adopt-A-Street
As a member of the Raytown Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, Graceway participates in the Adopt-A-Street program. This project will focus on trash pick-up on Blue Ridge Cutoff, starting at 53rd Terrace and extending south to 59th Street.
Team Capacity: 20
Raytown Parks and Recreation – Team 1
This project will focus on litter pickup across three different park sites: Colman, Kritser, and Raytown Green Space.
Team Capactity: 20
Raytown Parks and Recreation – Team 2
This project will focus on litter pickup across two different park sites: Minor Smith and Southwood.
Team Capacity: 20
FOSTER CARE & ADOPTION
Cornerstones of Care KCK
Cornerstones of Care is a behavioral and mental health nonprofit dedicated to partnering with children and families to build safe and healthy communities. This project will focus on organizing the clothing closet and rotating books in the library and family visitation rooms. This team will sort a wide range of items, including clothing, shoes, diapers, bedding, hygiene products, and books, to support youth and families involved in the child welfare system.
Team Capacity: 20
Foster Light
Foster Light walks alongside and supports foster youth and their families by providing resources that promote hope and healing. This project will focus on cleaning and organizing Foster Light’s office space, sorting clothes and shoes, and labeling sizes accordingly.
Team Capacity: 5
Joy Meadows KCK
Joy Meadows is an access point for all involved in the foster care community—private agencies, therapists, volunteers, and foster families—to maximize a child’s time in care for healing, not simply a holding pattern. This project will focus on property cleanup outdoors.
Team Capacity: 10
IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE SERVICES
Jewish Vocational Service
JVS aims to engage, encourage, and empower people to achieve social, cultural, and economic integration in the Greater Kansas City metro area. This project will involve painting client meeting rooms, sorting and organizing donations in the clothing closet, and yard work in the courtyard and flower beds.
Team Capacity: 24
Refuge KC (ends at 2:00 PM)
Refuge KC welcomes new-American neighbors with gospel-focused ministries of mercy. For this project, we are collaborating with one of their ministry sites, NewView Place Apartments, to host a special event to engage with the youth in the apartment community. This team will start at Graceway to pack sack lunches, then head to NewView to work with the youth to build “capture the flag” forts that they will use for an event later in the month. After the forts are built, this team will walk the youth down the hill to the soccer field for a sack lunch, a Bible story, and games in the park (soccer, frisbee, etc), wrapping up at 2:00 PM. A background check is required for all adult team members at this project site.
Team Capacity: 12
FOOD INSECURITY
Raytown Emergency Assistance Program
REAP provides rent, utility and food assistance to families in the Raytown C-2 School District boundaries who are struggling to make ends meet. This project will involve a clean out/up of the REAP building, including moving large items to the dumpster, as well as cleaning and reorganizing the flow of their food pantry. A background check is required for all adult team members at this project site.
Team Capacity: 15
Urban Produce Push
Urban Produce Push (UPP) is dedicated to fighting hunger, improving nutrition, and reducing food waste by rescuing, recovering, and distributing fresh, nutrient-dense produce directly from farms to the most food-insecure neighborhoods in the Greater Kansas City area. This project focuses on cleaning out, watering, and harvesting crops from 12 of UPP’s garden beds for agencies to then distribute.
Team Capacity: 20
GRACEWAY FACILITIES
Graceway Facilities – Indoors
This project will focus on painting the kitchen and removing unused appliances at The Point, which is the tan building on the hill south of Graceway’s main building.
Team Capacity: 10
Graceway Facilities – Outdoors
This project will happen on-site at Graceway. This team will focus on bush trimming and weed removal in the plant beds.
Team Capacity: 15
SET UP & TEAR DOWN
Friday Set Up (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
This team will meet on FRIDAY, June 5th to set up the church lobby and Fellowship Hall for Serve Day. This includes setting up tables and chairs, organizing stations to set out all necessary materials, laying out T-shirts for distribution, etc.
Saturday Tear Down
This team will reset the church lobby after teams leave to head to their project sites and put supplies away once teams return to the building for lunch.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Serve Day participants will meet at Graceway the morning of June 6th to pick up their T-shirts, necessary project supplies, and huddle as a big group before splitting off into project teams. You will be at your project site from about 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, unless otherwise noted, then lunch will be served for all participants at Graceway afterward.
No, transportation is not provided. You will need to travel from Graceway to your project site in your own vehicle or carpool with another participant.
Most of this year’s projects involve some manual labor, painting, and/or cleaning. You should wear your Serve Day T-shirt and shorts/pants that you don’t mind getting dirty. Closed-toe shoes are highly encouraged for all project sites and required on some. Please check your specific project site’s registration form for more information on what to wear.
Nope! Serve Day T-shirts are provided to all participants, free of charge. If you’ve participated in a prior Serve Day event at Graceway, please plan to wear that same T-Shirt if it is still in good condition.
Some project sites will provide everything needed, while others borrow tools from Graceway Facilities. Your site’s project team leader will handle picking up whatever Graceway Facilities supplies your site may need before heading that way. If any additional supplies are needed for your project that Graceway is not able to provide, your leader will let your project team know ahead of Serve Day. We highly recommend bringing your own pair of work gloves regardless of project site, just in case!
Light snacks and bottled water will be available Saturday morning before you head out to your site, then lunch will be served afterward. We highly recommend bringing your own water bottle to refill as needed throughout the morning while you’re at your project site.
Some project sites require a background check due to clientele or other minors being at the site while Graceway participants are there. Please check your specific project site’s registration form for more information on whether your site requires a background check.
Yes! We have a variety of projects available where children and youth are able to serve alongside an adult. The only projects that are restricted to 18+ are the Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity site, which is standard for their organization due to the nature of the construction work happening on the project site; Journey to New Life, Eastwood Hills Elementary and Trailwoods Elementary.
Yes! Once you select which project site you’d like to register for, you will see an option at the end of the form to “add another” registrant – you can sign up your spouse, children, or other household members to serve alongside you that way.
Not at all! Participating in Serve Day is a great way to get plugged in at Graceway, even if you are not currently serving on a Dream Team. We encourage everyone to sign up for a project site, whether you’ve been at Graceway for years or are new!
If your project gets rained out or otherwise changes due to weather, Community Outreach Director Alix Carruth will notify your team. Project teams will then be re-assigned to help at another site when possible. Your original project may be rescheduled for another day, and you will be invited to re-sign up for the new date if you are available.
Please email Community Outreach Director Alix Carruth at acarruth@visitgraceway.org.