One of our desires and goals at Epic is to love and serve the city well. Shortly after we moved to San Francisco, Ben Pilgreen and I had a meeting with the principal at Bessie to see what their greatest needs were and how we could partner with them. The principal then invited me to join a monthly breakfast meeting with other community leaders who are investing in Bessie. Some people have asked...how did you choose to partner with this particular school?
- Bessie Carmichael is the only public school we found in the SOMA neighborhood where we live and meet as a church.
- They are extremely under resourced and in great need
- The principal was willing to partner with us
We have been able to purchase office supplies for them and help them sort through and organize storage closets and supply rooms. Earlier this year we were excited to participate in Family Fun Day by offering to run two game booths. In one of our monthly meetings I was extremely disappointed when the principal said Family Fun Day was going to be postponed and ultimately canceled. He said too much was going on at the time and they didn't have the resources, volunteers or time to plan it.
After talking with Ben, we decided that we would ask if Epic could coordinate, staff and resource the entire event so that school families wouldn't have to miss out of this fun day together. The principal gratefully agreed and we began the planning. It "just so happened" to work out where we would have a team from The Well UA in the city helping us that week.
It was a really great day! About 200 students/families came out for fun, games and food. It was a great opportunity for our church to interact with the school and to provide an event that would have been canceled otherwise. Here are some pictures taken by one of our volunteers from that day:
I am so grateful for all of volunteers from Epic and The Well UA who helped make this event happen. I am especially thankful for Principal Burgos who allows us to be a part of the Bessie community.
For the good of the city...
