Who are you helping?

During the recent devastating tornados in Moore, Oklahoma we were all scrambling to gather water and send aid to the families.

One news report warned against volunteers traveling to assist with the clean up. At first it seemed a little odd that anyone would turn away a helping hands.

Help is our greatest connection to another living being. All of us at one time or another in our lives have needed the aide and assistance of another person. Even when pride gets in the way, we still really need the help.

Kira McConico is the publisher of “Be Encouraged” Comments, suggestions and letters can be sent to kmcconico@assignedtoencourage.com

That’s one of the great things that I love about this publication.

We are focused on highlighting not ourselves but those in the community that are truly selflessly helping someone else.

Melva Brownlee has held many prestigious titles including Vice President of Operations at The Urban League of Greater Kansas City. However, Melva’s greatest title is truest: SERVANT. As a community advocate, Melva has dedicated her life to serving others with the biggest and brightest smile this side of the Mississippi. She has answered her life’s call to be a missionary in the fields of her neighborhood, community and city.

We salute Melva Brownlee in this edition of BE Encouraged and encourage you to ask yourself, “WHO AM I HELPING?” Be Encouraged!

“My four and no more!” Wouldn’t we all be in bad shape if tihs was the law of the land? From childhood we are taught to raise our hands and ask for help if we need it. These elementary concepts stay with us and we carry them into adulthood. Help is an elementary concept though. It seems the smallest act of kindness are always the ones televised as a “little good news today”.

So when does one random act of kindness move into a mindset, an attitude or lifestyle of helping others? Some say you are a born to serve, I believe that serving is an attitude that is developed out of a character of gratitutde. Think about it this way. When you are grateful, content with your life and happy and sound emotionally, don’t want you want others to feel that same way?

This publication is truly all about Melva Brownlee. As you read her story, relfect on your own convictions and answer the question: “WHO ARE YOU HELPING?”

Be Encouraged!

At the age of 13, I was certain that I wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to serve others in other countries. I was heavily influenced by church and the work that churches did in other countries.

Although my first experience and exposure was to the Baptist doctrine. However, in high school I became a Nazarene. I joined Blue Hills Church of the Nazarene in the 9th grade. The Nazarene’s have thousands of missionaries serving in Africa, Russia, and in South America. I had the opportunity to hear countless stories about the work of missionaries from missionaries when they came to visit our church or when we went to visit other churches.

As I continued through high school, I was starting to prepare myself for the ministry of serving others and what that could look like.

Although the need in third world countries was great, I could not help but think about the battered woman, the drug addict, the homeless man, women, and child. We had our own startling statistics and so I asked myself was it really necessary for me to leave the United States to serve others.

I started to give serious thought to what it really meant to be a servant- to serve others with my treasures of time and money. I served others in small ways‌if I heard of someone who needed help with their lights, I helped them. If I heard about someone who needed a meal, I gave them money to buy food‌.small gestures of service. I like to call them random acts of kindness.

Now, as I started my own quest to serve others I started to wonder if I really needed to become a missionary to do that. I never could find any formal information about missionaries in the United States, but surely there had to be some people taking care of the needs of wounded souls here in the United States. I kept looking and while I was looking I kept serving and I told myself I am a missionary at heart.

I started to believe that I can be a missionary anywhere I want to be.

As I continued my ministry at Blue Hills Church, I personally decided that I can do what I can to help people around me. As a graduate of the CMSU School of Social Work, I started looking at ways to get outside of Kansas City so that I can serve others.

In 1986, I graduated from college and moved to Boston and then landed my dream job in Washington, DC, where I had the opportunity to come face to face with missionaries in United States. There were black and white people working along-side each other to serve people in need. This place is called the Community of Hope.

It was at the Community of Hope that I was able to live out my dream of being a “missionary.”

The Community of Hope was located in a drug infested neighborhood where families and the staff work beside each other to make a better place for all that lived there. It was a community where we all lived to give each other hope every day. I was able to work with the members of the Community of Hope neighborhood for 9 long years until I returned to Kansas City in 1994 to take care of my mother who had a sever stroke at the age of 49.

At the age of 29, I was starting another journey of being a missionary – which I believe the formal word is called “caregiver” so I have spent many years serving my mother and helping her have a fulfilled life despite her illness.

In November 1999, the Urban League gave me an opportunity to come serve the organization in the capacity of Administrative Assistant to Bill Clark, previous CEO of the Urban League and at that time Gwendolyn Grant Executive Vice President.

The Urban League gave me that chance to continue my work to serve others. Service to others included my two bosses directly.

Being at the Urban League gave me an opportunity to try my hand at almost everything.

Fast forward 13 years later, I love the Urban League because it is the best kept secret in town but I want to be instrumental in spreading the word to our entire community about all the free services we offer our community – career assistance, leadership development, ACT Test prep and so much more. We are a 95+ year old organization and I want to be a part of its legacy of keeping the Urban League movement alive because the work of black empowerment and equality has not yet been fulfilled.

The Urban League is working on serving more students with ACT Test Prep and we could use support by having individuals join the Friends of the League at $50 a year which is a sustaining membership in the organization that could support the on-going programs we provide. We are also engaged in painting the interior and could use donations to purchase paints and other items.

If you have a couple of hours on Saturday to assist as a coach for the ACT Test Prep program, we could use coaches for Math, Science, English and Reading.

In the words of St. Francis Assisi “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is despir, hope., Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy…..For it is giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying to self that we are born to internal life.”

It doesn’t take a lot to be a bridge in someone’s life. Just be the vehicle for them to get from one destination to the other. We all have something to give. Will you allow yourself to get out of the way, just briefly to be the vessel that can be used for greater good at the moment that it is needed.

Be open, God is always ready to use his fellow man to serve one of his children. I’m sure you can look back remember how God’s divine love and grace has impacted your life. Don’t hold your treasures so close to your heart that you forget to keep passing goodness forward. Goodness shall always over come darkness. Let your light shine always.

For more information on Melva Brownlee or The Urban League of Greater Kansas City visit: www.ulkc.org (816) 471-0550

Kira McConico’s universal assignment is to deliver encouragement to the hopeless through her Assigned To Encourage! ™ Words are powerful and can be spoken into dark times and bring light to life's situations.

In addition, Kira is an inspirational speaker. Her target audience is young women ages 17-30. She frequently speaks at area schools, domestic violence shelters and other organizations to encourage young women to pursue their dreams no matter their past.

While her target audience is young women, the message of encouragement is for everyone!

For booking information visit: www.assignedtoencourage.com.

All written materials are the original work of the author. Copyright restricted.

All rights reserved. Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible - various versions.

Be Encouraged is a publication of Assigned to Encourage!™ Design and layout provided courtesy of Integrity Designs