Reflections on the Block Party from David Warren:

We estimate that there were about 800 people there throughout the day. That is short of the 2000 I was hoping for but it was still a good turn out. One of the best things in my mind was seeing the various groups of people in ODM interact with each other (staff, residents, donors, volunteers, ODF members, etc.). At no other event do we get all those groups together, so that was probably the highlight for me.

The event went extremely smoothly. We had about 170 volunteers including staff. It was great getting the block cleaned up. We finished the church bathrooms thanks to Foothills Bible Church, we re-coated the parking lot, we got new carpet in the preschool and we resurfaced the playground. It was amazing that all those things came together for the 19th. We also finished a lot of little projects in the way of landscaping, painting, etc. that needed to be done to get the block in tip top shape. At 7am we had a crew sweeping the actual street which almost never gets done around here because of all the parked cars. I've never seen Marion St. look nicer.

The food people shared a couple neat stories of being able to minister to the homeless.

I'll let you read Don McHodgkin's words. "Many people who attended the event expressed their thanks as well. As people were leaving they thanked me again and again for doing this. We touched people more than you may know. I met a homeless man named Jimbo who looked like a wild man. (he said "I look like a wild man because I am a wild man") He hadn't showered in weeks. I gave him some tickets for food and didn't see him for a while. Then around 3pm I saw Jimbo and he looked like a changed man. He told me he traded his hotdog for a shower. I told him he looked great. I gave him some more tickets for food and this time he ate it himself. Ben, another homeless man, had just been robbed and had many cuts and bruises. We gave him some food and he stayed all day. I think he ate 3 hotdogs and about 6 cookies. He was very thankful and said that people usually did not want him around. He showed me his Bible and talked about he always reads it. I saw him leave at the end of the day and he was walking better. He knows that God had taken care of him that day through people like all of you."

Jennifer Duncan told me that she had about 25 people come for a tour of the Esther House. Several were volunteers who had helped in the recent construction.

In all, I felt that the event was a success. Thanks so much to all of you who put so much work into it. It's a memory that we all will carry with us to remember God's goodness to us in these 1st 10 years.

Thank you!
David Warren, Executive Director of Open Door Ministries
dwarren@odmdenver.org