Calvary UMC Volunteers Serve Onondaga Nation, 15th Year

By John Shepler

On July 25, 2022, five Volunteers in Mission from Calvary UMC in Harrisburg arrived at the Onondaga Nation UMC just in time to unload the groceries to make lunch in their Fellowship/Kitchen room. Regis Doyle, Dale Miller, Mike Stephens, Steve Keller and I were part of this team. 

We were greeted by Dickie Crouse, of the Onondaga Nation, who directed us to several projects. Since the church needed a lot of work, we went right to it. Some of our members spent several days replacing the toilet “up-pump,” stove and back door, and repairing and painting the deck/ramp.

That evening we were welcomed to a dinner at Immanuel UMC in Camillus, NY. This was our night-time home. We cannot thank the people at Immanuel enough for their hospitality.

The next few days we patched and painted siding, sealed a deck, and repaired a couple of outside faucets.

On Thursday, we hosted 10 members of the Onondaga Nation at our dinner where friendships are made and renewed over the 15 years we have been visiting there.

Friday morning we visited all the homes we worked on and gifts were given and photos taken. Then, these five tired Volunteers in Mission loaded their tools and personals and headed home feeling good about our week serving the Onondaga Nation.