Saturday, October 18, 2026

The team arrived in Menard around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and was met by several members of the Boys and Girls Club staff. First impressions of Menard were of a town in serious decline; first impressions of the staff were of people actively and enthusiastically addressing the needs of the community—a bright light in a town struggling to keep the lights on. Everyone we met and worked with was incredibly friendly. They provided a great lunch and take clear pride in the work they are doing.

The Club is housed in a building that will be 100 years old in two years and shows significant deferred maintenance. The flooding issue was not caused by rising water but by leaks along a back wall. These leaks have limited full use of the most important part of the building: the kitchen, where they prepare a hot dinner for up to 40 children daily. They have received a gift to address the leak-related damage, and that work is expected to begin shortly.

Our work included cleaning the building, installing 20 backpack hooks, replacing 8 ceiling fans with light kits on a 15-foot ceiling, pressure-washing the sidewalks, lining a 160-foot wall with whiteboard paneling, and general cleaning. The windows had decades of tape residue and paint on them—a tedious job.

The wall intended for paneling is an old masonry wall that had been covered with stucco and painted multiple times. Undulations in the wall, combined with poor surface preparation before earlier paint jobs, had led to flaking and peeling. As a result, the paneling would not bond properly. A professional painter suggested materials that could remediate the paint issues and allow the wall to be properly prepared and painted.

Hanging ceiling fans on a 15-foot ceiling is not work best attempted by a do-it-yourself crew—especially one in which most members are over 50. Younger people bounce back from falls; people over 50 tend to go splat. I therefore arranged for electricians from Brady to complete that work today (October 19). I estimate their charge will be in the neighborhood of $700.

Total spent thus far is $1,889.41. I would like to suggest that we cover the cost of properly preparing and painting the wall and will obtain estimates if the committee agrees to move forward with that idea.

Here’s a report from someone on the team about their conversations today:

Thanks for all you did to make this happen today. What a joy to work alongside you.

I had a long talk with the director, Amy, her boyfriend, and Brandy. None of them are believers or go to church. In fact, all three said it’s been a very long time since they have been to church. When I asked them about their faith or if they had a church they belonged to, they all looked at each other. There might have been some church hurt there.

I got to tell them that the thing that matters most is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and they all said they agreed. Thank you for praying three times with them today. It mattered.

I think the main reason the Lord wanted us there, by far, was to show them the love of Christ and also show them that Christians care about them. I am so thankful you encouraged us to be sure and talk to them and really listen. And you were totally right. They each, including Bride and the doctor, wanted to share their personal stories and were genuinely moved that we cared enough to listen and care and ask real questions about their lives.

Thanks again for doing this today. I truly feel like Jesus was honored and lifted high.

I’m thankful for the team that volunteered on Saturday and the work they accomplished. I’m also thankful to belong to a church like FPC, where so much of our focus is on being the hands, feet, nail-drivers, backpack-hook installers, window scrapers, and pressure-washers for a world that needs Jesus more than it realizes.