Community Relations Office
March 18th, 2004 -- Project R.A.K.E., which stands for Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere, is an outreach of the church's Ground Zero Youth Ministry. Project R.A.K.E. seeks to provide free labor and, through the generous donations of local businesses and individuals, materials to re-shingle a roof, paint, repair mobile homes, rebuild dangerous kitchens, whatever is needed to make a home safer and more livable for seniors and low income citizens in the immediate area. The program's name, according to Project R.A.K.E. literature comes from Columbine victim, Rachel Scott's diary writings which said if a person would perform one random act of kindness, it would begin a chain reaction of others doing the same.
The program is administered by Mike Atkins, Director; Drew Cope, Site coordinator; and Jeff Pincin, Sr., Construction Coordinator.
They credit student Sarah Abel with founding the program three years ago. Abel is a sophomore at Millersville University majoring in Special Education.
Abel, who was somewhat reluctant to take credit for the program, said, "We were going so far away on summer mission trips. I saw a lot of people in need here." She said she called about eight places to see where folks were that needed help.
"I got a lot of help and referrals from Oxford Neighborhood Services," she said. "It took about a year for the program to really take off."
Now said Abel, the program is active year-round with 11 work groups, at least one project per month and three major weekend projects per year.
According to Cope, the program looks for low-income homeowners mostly through referrals of church members or agencies such as Oxford Neighborhood Services, Chester County Cares, or the Chester County Health Department.
"We prefer that our clients own their own homes so that a landlord cannot come in and raise the rent once the work has been done." said Cope.
Cope does an interview over the phone and uses a common sense based approach, evaluating income and needs to determine basic eligibility before scheduling an in home interview.
"Sometimes we ask that a homeowner help with cost of materials or with clean up depending on their situation," he said. There are really no forms to fill out, no documentation other than the referral and the interview. Office personnel such as Sophia Arencibia, the program's Development Coordinator, then take over finding donations of money and material for the scheduled jobs.
Fundraisers for Project R.A.K.E. such as a T-shirt sale supplement the program financially.
Most importantly, Project R.A.K.E. "helps our teens to give back, serve God, reach out and learn new skills," said Cope.
Cope would like to make the community aware that Project R.A.K.E. is always looking for community members in need of their services as well as those willing to donate their time and talents, particularly skilled help, as well as those willing to donate money or construction materials.
For more information, call Project R.A.K.E. at 610-869-7332.