Here are some thoughts about CarePortal from Sara.

“If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” James 2:16

Anyone else ever have that verse just rankle? As much as I’m learning that prayer really can make miracles happen, sometimes it just feels like a cop-out. “Hey, that sucks – but I’ll pray for you!” Sometimes, we need to be the answer to the prayers that are made. Sometimes, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. 

When I started learning about CarePortal, I just knew I had to do it. Here’s how I can be a part of ministering to our community! Now, I haven’t been called to live in the North End. (Total respect and awe for those that have and do!) But CarePortal lets me see the needs of those around our church, and help be a part of the community that we are trying to create. CarePortal allows people like social workers to identify needs in the people and families they see, and share those needs with us – the church. Just like the classic starfish-on-the-beach story (google it if you haven’t read it!), we can’t help all needs – but we can help some. Sometimes we help because we know we just have to. 

Sometimes, we do just pray. Sometimes, we leave this one to God. Sometimes, we help … because we’ve been helped, because we’ve been loved, because we’ve been in a bad spot and because someone helped us, because Jesus asked us to. 

How does it work? CarePortal requests are generally entered by a social worker, and then shared with the nearest churches to that need. Churches can choose to answer a request, and then work together with the social worker to deliver the item(s) to the individual/family. Strollers, tables, mattresses – right now, sometimes it’s an old laptop and printer for schoolwork. The stories are simple, and the stories are beautiful.

All around us, there’s a broken world. The Kingdom hasn’t come yet. But it’s coming! Every act of helping, every act of love, it mends something – it brings us together and it brings the Kingdom a little closer. Every time we choose to reach out to someone else, it builds some community. It fights the darkness around us by lighting one little candle. 

This isn’t the only way – I hope this is happening all around you, large and small. But if you’re looking for a way to connect with some of the needs around us, some of those who just need a little help: strangers in a strange land, single moms and struggling families who could just use a little boost, a little help when the road is rough – CarePortal helps to connect us all. It’s that simple, and that profound. We (the CarePortal team) are really encouraging you to join CarePortal, not because this is the magic solution that will fix everything, but because it’s a really practical way to connect us to each other, and to those around us – to choose acts of kindness, one choice at a time. Building community, building the Kingdom, one piece at a time.

Reach out to Lillian Poetker if you’d like to be a part of the CarePortal team, and help build community and the Kingdom.