StreetFest Back at Calvin for 14th Year

August 29 , 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

For the 14th straight year Calvin College first-year students will partner
with the community to make a difference in Grand Rapids as part of their
orientation program.

StreetFest 2006 will see 1,000 Calvin freshmen out and about on the streets of
their new college's city, doing everything from planning a carnival to planting
a rain garden to preparing materials for the Children's Museum.

The program takes place from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm on Thursday, August 31,
Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2.

StreetFest 2006 has added a couple of new projects to the usual collection
from past years, including a walking tour of Eastown which will be less
work-related and more educational. Also new for this year will be a service
project at Trillium Haven farm, an organic family farm outside of Grand
Rapids.

Many of the traditional StreetFest sites are on tap again for 2006,
including:

-a cook-out at Millennium Park with residents of Heartland
-planting rain gardens with WMEAC
-landscaping work for the daycare Gateway to Life
-planning a community carnival for Mosaic Life church
-community clean-up with Neighborhood Ventures
-surveying the Farmer's Market with Midtown Neighborhood Association
-preparing supplies for visitors at the Grand Rapids Children Museum
-doing yard work for local seniors at Roosevelt Park/Grandville Ave
Neighborhood Association

The theme for this year's event is "Seeking the Well-being of the City."

StreetFest student coordinator Devin Byker, a junior from Iowa, says the theme
springs from Jeremiah 29 where God tells the Israelites to "Seek the welfare of
the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf,
for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

Says Byker: ""The theme and verse were chosen because they encompass one of
the paramount concerns of the Service-Learning Center at Calvin (which
organizes the annual StreetFest project). As we partner and involve ourselves
with agencies, organizations, and churches across Grand Rapids, we hope to take
part in and further the restoration and shalom-building that Jeremiah addresses
in this passage. We view our vocation as a life not of isolation, but of
working towards justice in whatever community in which we may find ourselves,
because, as Jeremiah notes, in its welfare, we shall have welfare."

Contact Byker at 526-7116
For the full story, including a link to a downloadable StreetFest logo, see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/sfest.htm

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Received on Tue Aug 29 12:39:58 2006