“During the season when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ to a young couple who struggled to find a warm place to stay in Bethlehem, it felt good to help prepare a place so that at least one more family in the Madison area won’t face that same struggle,” said Wisconsin Bible teacher, Greg Edge. | Photos by Greg Edge
While most people were readying their homes for the holidays, 14 young men from Wisconsin Academy traveled to Madison a few days before Christmas to help clean the apartment for an organization called Porchlight. As the largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing and services in Dane County, Porchlight strives to reduce homelessness in Dane County by collaborating with the community to provide shelter, affordable housing, and supportive services that eliminate barriers and empower the individuals and families they serve.
The two-bedroom apartment was small but filled with a lot of trash. Worn-out shoes, children’s toys, piles of papers, old clothes, pacifiers, bank statements, beer cans, broken appliances, paper plates, water bottles, old furniture and more.
The students and chaperone rolled up their sleeves and donned masks to rehab the vacated apartment, soon to serve a new family struggling to find affordable housing. After discarding broken furniture and other trash in dumpsters, the students turned to cleaning. They emptied the refrigerator, scrubbed the cabinets inside and out, and cleaned the sinks. They scrubbed crayon marks and dirt smudges off the walls, peeled stickers off the floors and doors, and cleaned the baseboards. They swept the floors, washed the windows, scrubbed the bathtub, cleaned the toilet, shined the mirrors, wiped down the ceiling fans, scraped up gum from the floor, and disinfected everything.
By the time they finished, the apartment had been transformed. The floors and walls were clean. The windows sparkled. The bathroom and kitchen looked much more inviting, and the whole apartment was almost ready for the next family to move in.
“During the season when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ to a young couple who struggled to find a warm place to stay in Bethlehem, it felt good to help prepare a place so that at least one more family in the Madison area won’t face that same struggle,” said Wisconsin Bible teacher, Greg Edge.
“Service activities like this are a part Wisconsin Academy’s commitment to achieving a balanced program of mental, physical, and spiritual growth, and are yet another way Wisconsin Academy is preparing leaders for a life of service.”
Greg Edge, Bible teacher
