The Root Cellar

This morning our Site Team visited The Root Cellar located here in Portland, Maine, just a couple of miles from our home, in the Munjoy Hill/ Bayside/ Kennedy Park neighborhood. What an amazing organization!

The Root Cellar began in 1984 in the renovated dirt-floor basement of a local church with a handful of volunteers trying to create a safe place for teens. Today it's a thriving non-profit ministry led by 9 full-time staff, a couple of part-timers, and over 200 active volunteers, housed in a 16,800 square foot facility, offering over 50 ministry programs throughout the week to meet the physical and spiritual needs of children, youth, and adults in this particular neighborhood of Portland.

Here's a list of just some of the ministries The Root Cellar offers, all free:

• Citizenship classes for immigrants and refugees
• Free dental clinic on Thursdays (with a year-long waiting list) and free medical clinic on Fridays -- all with volunteer medical practitioners. (Incidentally, these are the only ministries open to any Portland resident... all others are limited to those within the Munjoy Hill/ Bayside/ Kennedy Park neighborhood.)
• Friday & Saturday night drop-in center for teens
• After-school programs five days a week -- at least three different programs for different age groups each day
• Homework help for school-age children, Monday-Thursday afternoons
• Thursday night dinners for families, provided by local churches and prepared in a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen
• Clothing distribution on Thursdays -- along with some small furniture, toys, etc... They get so much donated each week, that at the end of the day each Thursday they get rid of whatever's left over and start the collection all over again on Monday for the following week.
• Food distribution on Fridays -- fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, meat, the works
• Bible studies for different age groups
• School vacation and summer activities for kids, like trips to theme parks, barbecues, etc.

A few things that struck me:

• The heartbeat of this organization is its volunteers. When you walk in, there's a wall covered with an enormous painting of a tree with branches heading in every direction, and taped to the branches are little photos of some of the 200 volunteers who make the ministry happen. The staffpersons at The Root Cellar are, to a large extent, volunteer coordinators. Our tour guide explained that ministries are added and expanded as volunteers come forward with passions and skills and interests. Imagine how much more this organization can do because, as it has grown from its humble beginnings, it's kept its focus and identity as a volunteer-led ministry, with volunteers leading hands-on ministry and professional staff providing administrative structure and fulfilling training, recruitment, and development functions.
• It's sad, but certainly understandable, that The Root Cellar needs to turn away people in need who do not live within very specifically defined neighborhood boundaries. Clearly there are needs in other parts of Portland which The Root Cellar cannot meet. That's a challenge -- and an opportunity.
• The neighborhoods in Portland -- and every city -- are changing. Today the neighborhood served by The Root Cellar contains many immigrants, a large number of them Sudanese and Somali. I'm sure the founders of The Root Cellar couldn't have imagined that in 1984. And our tour guide shared the sorrow that even within the last six months, violence in this neighborhood has increased dramatically, with gang activity, a store across the street held at gunpoint, and a couple of murders. Violence hits close to home.
• All of this ministry is intentionally interdenominational -- not led by any particular denomination, but with a clear focus on serving Christ. The goal is life transformation. The method is love. The instrument is relationships with caring adults.
• Leadership, leadership, leadership... There are thousands of small, volunteer-led ministries designed to care for children and teens in need, around the country, and they're making a difference in their communities. It takes the vision and passion of a gifted leader, though -- plus the power of the Holy Spirit! -- to transform one into a ministry with the scope and magnitude of influence that this one has.
• The generosity of people when they catch the vision and see themselves as partners in ministry... I mentioned over 200 volunteers -- real people who give their valuable time! But we also learned that financially, 73% of the $650,000+ annual budget comes from individual donors, with only 9% coming from churches, 9% from foundations, 8% from businesses, 1% from civic groups, and not a penny from state or federal sources. I think that's incredible.

Visiting The Root Cellar this morning as part of our research into the needs and resources within the City of Portland was a valuable learning experience. I found our visit to be incredibly inspiring. I know God will use some of the new insights we have gained as we discern our place in ministry here in Portland.