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Source: The Lima News, OhioSept.儲存 22--LIMA -- The neighborhood around Forest Park United Methodist Church received a facelift Saturday thanks to hundreds of people willing to sacrifice their time and their bodies to do some good for others.About 200 volunteers, both youth and adults, from Lima as well as from all across Ohio and into Indiana, descended onto the east Lima neighborhood to bless residents with free landscaping and other projects."We had 80 projects today," said Londell Smith, the coordinator for the fourth annual Big Day of Serving. "I think our credibility is increasing every year, wheras at first there was some skepticism because we were going door to door, telling people, 'Hey, all we want to do is bless you. There's no cost for labor or materials. All we need is your permission.' But now that we're four years into it, people know about it."Part of a national outreach, organized by Group Mission Trips, Lima's Big Day of Serving began in 2010 and has seen more than 1,000 people get out to help their neighbors. With this proven track record, people in Lima are taking notice."The word is getting out. We're also starting to see an increase in local volunteers, which is great," Smith said. "The benefit of doing local missions work is that three months later, you can still walk by and see the fruits of your labor. It gives you a sense of pride knowing that you were able to do something significant to improve the appearance of a neighborhood."For the volunteers, their work day began at 7 a.m., but that doesn't count the travel time for the many who came from out of town, with all the volunteers going so far as to pay a regist迷你倉ation fee to participate."We've had people come from as far away as Indiana," Smith said. "All these people are even paying to come and work. They're not getting paid for this."For everyone involved, helping those who, for whatever reason, were unable to help themselves, was at the heart of the entire event."It's not that people are lazy," Smith said, "but some people just can't afford to do it or they may not have the physical ability. So to see the smiles on their faces and to hear how thankful and appreciative they are for what's being done, it's beautiful."Throughout the area, volunteers mulched flower beds, trimmed branches, planted flowers or whatever was needed at each project, giving their time and energy and giving residents a renewed sense of pride in their neighborhood.Smith also acknoweldges the spiritual element to this day of service, noting that this is what Christians are commanded to do."Everything about this effort is spiritual," he said. "All throughout the Bible, we are commanded to bless others, and here's the perfect opportunity for us to live out those Scriptures. One of the greatest commandments is to love your neighbors, and what better way than by coming out and giving them a hand?"Seeing the young people out helping total strangers gives Smith hope for the future."Some may think this generation is hopeless, wondering if they know what it takes to serve" he said. " Absolutely, they do. These kids could have done anything today, but they gave up their day today."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Visit The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) at .limaohio.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage