More Kindness San Jose Reflections
by Jill Bekaert
Fighting over litter pickers . . . chasing after garbage. . . raking playground sand . . . scrubbing graffiti and benches . . . sharing water . . . letting a part of the downtown community know that The River Church Community exists. The Kindness San Jose team serving at Backesto Park on downtown San Jose’s northside was on the move on the morning of August 31st, both the young (starting at 3 years old!) and the old (we won’t point this one out – how old are you, Bill Balch?).
Ten children and fourteen adults from The River Church Community visited the diverse and popular park. This is a park that can make you feel like you are on a Mexican plaza on a warm Saturday evening on one side, while transporting you to tennis courts in Vietnam on the other side. Other ethnicities also dot the park, in soccer, volleyball, and softball games as well as abundant birthday parties, complete with jumpy houses. San Jose councilmember Sam Licardo can be seen jogging around the perimeter of the park, along with many others, on the well worn unofficial dirt “track” cutting through the grass.
Sunday mornings are not as busy, except for on the tennis courts, and we were directed by an experienced neighborhood park volunteer who provided equipment and a plan. Even though the city of San Jose works to maintain the parks, well used parks can become dirty quickly, especially on a weekend. The enthusiastic kids jumped right in . . . on the way to the park, a six year old said, “I am really glad that we are going to clean up the environment. I want to help because this is important.” The limited number of litter pickers provided children with lessons in reconciliation and sharing as well as community service, and the smallest ones, like Mia Girard (one of the 3 year olds), just put on gloves and ran around cleaning up with glee, sans picker.
Most of the grown-ups, like Steven Hu, Grace Kwan, Kat Therrien and Debbi Balch, broke out the graffiti kits and rakes and cleaned playground equipment and sand. Garrett Girard and Bill Balch also scrubbed benches while Amy Girard, Rick and Angie Schertle, Keith Blumenthal, and Jody Chang assisted with the kids and trash pick-up. Gary Claassen and I hit the courts – not to play (fortunately – the competition looked good!), but to pass out water and let people know about our church that meets not so far away. Polly Claassen took baby Trent around the park, taking photos.
Backesto Park is in my neighborhood. I have logged hours there, playing with my children, greeting neighbors, and making acquaintance with people that I never saw again. I try out my rusty Spanish and sit under the golden Ginkgo biloba trees in the autumn, wishing that I knew how to play tennis. My worlds came together on August 31st. It felt genuinely good to see my church bless my community – to be present to it and improving it in a practical way. It was a joy to have my children (and other children) learn that church is not just a building or a worship service – it is also a group of people trying to love the world in practical ways. It just made sense to let some people know about our church, wherever they are at on their own spiritual journey, because the church’s home is not too far away from their homes.
To view photos from Kindness San Jose, please visit The River's Flickr site.