I Love My City: Active Engagement

By Kim Cassell

I Love My City: Active Engagement

THE SIGNS CAN BE SEEN THROUGHOUT CABARRUS COUNTY.BUT WHAT DO THEY CONVEY BESIDES A NICE SENTIMENT?

The I Love My City (ILMC) project first took root at First Assembly Church (now cfa church), but within the congregation. One Sunday afternoon each year was set aside for community projects but the event didn’t grow beyond the church. That’s when Cooperative Christian Ministries (CCM) was approached.

Ed Hosack is CCM’s executive director. “CCM was unable to do it for two years because they were already involved with Kannapolis Cares Day. However, about five years ago, they realized the ILMC project was something that needed to be a countywide event. Our goal the first year was to have at least one project in each Cabarrus municipality.

Those municipalities include Concord, Harrisburg, Kannapolis, Midland and Mt. Pleasant. The other change came by way of the date. I Love My City Weekend was moved to April; this year’s is set for April 26-28. The commencement is highoctane and begins with thanking Concord’s first-responders.

“The first two years we did this, we asked each municipality to do a kick-off. What we learned is people weren’t interested in having breakfast, they were interested in starting their projects,” Hosack says. “So now we have partnered with Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) to host one kick-off event (Thursday, April 25, at zMAX from 10:00am-12 noon). On that morning, it will look like a parade of first-responder vehicles and they will unload a truckload of water and sports drinks from Coke to say thank-you for their service. It is a sight to see.”

This year, Atrium Health is the I Love My City Weekend sponsor; Charlotte Motor Speedway and Coca-Cola are Kick-Off sponsors; and the YMCA is the

The ILMC 2018 Kick-Off had the mayors from Cabarrus' five municipalities in attendance.

Photo: CCM

Faith Deliverance Healing Ministries collected donataions for police departments' service.

Photo: CCM

organizing partner. Anyone can participate: churches, businesses, community groups, families, individuals and local government. By visiting Ilovemycityproject.com, volunteers are given the option of signing up from a list of existing projects or registering their own idea. “What’s really great is when people

look out their window and create a project, then share with us what they accomplished. We put together five teams (one per municipality): one CCM representative, one municipality representative and a few others. There will be at least one project that benefits the municipality,” Hosack explains. “But this team also helps to stir

interest in getting people out to take on a project. We will start soliciting projects from all the local non-profits for project needs and people will then adopt them. Some people can’t physically participate but want to donate and that is absolutely fine.”

The CCM website says, “Groups are encouraged to identify or create projects to address needs in their own communities or neighborhoods, and to assemble volunteers and resources and work with project coordinators to complete these projects during I Love My City Weekend. Larger projects may involve multiple days, while smaller projects may be a simple act of kindness. There is no project too small.”

“Yard signs are placed when a project is registered and confirmed. There has been a lot of word of mouth and social media promotion; we advertise through the churches and social media,” Hosack adds. “As organizations connect with us, we do have the yard sign. If a non-profit has a project, they will place a sign. If a business is participating, we will place a sign.”

And it’s working. In its first year with CCM, more than 200 projects were completed with 1,200 to 1,400 volunteers. In 2018, all five Cabarrus County municipalities joined in nearly 200 projects and 1,381 people reported they had participated.

“We knew Cabarrus County was ripe for this type of initiative,” Hosack says. “It’s not a fundraiser. In fact, CCM

Parishioners from Revolution Church took on a neighborhood trach pick-up.

Photo: CCM

A food drive was held at Bethel Elementary as part of an ILMC project.

Photo: CCM

uses some of its own funds to bring this about. They do benefit because several projects get accomplished in a weekend but, more than that, we believe if we can create within our community the idea of looking beyond property lines, seeing a need and then doing something about it – that mentality is good for CCM and every non-profit in the community. If it builds a spirit of community, then it’s good for CCM. The logo is out there nationally, but no one owns it. The event itself is something that was created locally.”

Hosack says there are no hard numbers related to projects or volunteers because no one is keeping score. “It’s still running about 140 to 200 projects per year, but if a church does a litter pick-up on three roads, is that one project or three? The numbers of people getting involved are growing incrementally each year. The active engagement continues to grow, which is what we want to see.

“This is a community accomplishment, not a CCM accomplishment. Our only goal has been to see it grow. We want to see more volunteers and

projects every year. People love the idea. I think people love that it’s not for just one beneficiary. It’s whomever they choose.”

April serves as the onset of spring here in Cabarrus County, so a majority of ILMC projects are tied to non-profit facility upkeep or outdoor landscape projects. “There are also things like roadside cleanup, public space cleanup and beautification,” Hosack shares. “We will also see elementary school kids send letters to soldiers, people serving food at senior centers or even food drives. Every group is different.

“One of my favorite projects has been from cfa where they will pick a street in their neighborhood, meet with every homeowner on that street and discuss what they would like done to their home or property. It always seems to transform the environment on that street.

“We’ve seen school clubs do creek cleanup, which is very hard work. We’ve seen neighborhood block parties and providing opportunities for neighbors to mingle and meet. There have been prescription take-back events and electronic recycling events. There’s really no end to the kind of projects that get accomplished on this weekend.

“I believe we will continue to see expanded involvement within the community and, with that, we will be able to accomplish more. It will continue to improve community relations. With the tremendous cooperative spirit that Cabarrus County has, there really is no limit.”

Want to get involved? Go to Ilovemycityproject.com or send an email to Ilovemycity@ cooperativeministry.com. n