We are always so blessed by the way our community members and church partners come together and support Mercy! We want to highlight Bayside Church in Roseville, California who has been partnering and blessing Mercy since our Sacramento residential home opened in 2009.
Not only is Bayside Church a monthly partner, but they also mobilize their church to serve on a regular basis. They remove barriers by providing an online database where Mercy can share volunteering opportunities throughout the year directly to their church members. Their outreach department also organizes weekend-long service projects, empowering their own church members to be team leaders on various projects around town. One team blessed our residents with a spa day including facials, manicures, and haircuts!
Bayside Church is often a host to well-known musical artists for concerts and Christmas shows and they always bless our residents with free tickets to experience God in this fun, dynamic way! This past year Bayside Church hosted their own virtual Run For Mercy gathering almost 100 women in one day to support the cause for freedom!
After a recent weekend of Bayside Serves, where 25 church members came out to wash all our windows, landscape our lawn, and collected paper goods for us, we interviewed Shaun Sanassarian, the Pastor of Local Outreach about why they serve at Mercy Multiplied:
How did you/or Bayside initially hear about Mercy?
We heard about Mercy through them reaching out to Churches in the area when they were opening in Lincoln, CA around 2009.
When and why did Bayside Serves start and how long have they been serving Mercy?
Once a year Bayside Church shuts down our church services at all of our campuses and sends our entire congregation to serve the community. We have had up to 10,000 volunteers in one weekend serving our community. We love unleashing compassion in the community, and we wanted to include Mercy Multiplied in on the blessings.
What has been a project you all have hosted that you are most proud of?
Without a doubt our City Serve Project is the best, it is a time for the church to shine and be the hand’s feet of Jesus. At Mercy Multiplied we have had families come out for landscaping together and a few continue to do “handyman” projects around the home as the year continues on.
Why do you love and support Mercy?
I love seeing that lives are being transformed in the name of Jesus and the staff is so much fun. They bring so much joy to the young women at Mercy and let them know that they are loved by a God that loves them.
What would you tell someone who is considering supporting Mercy?
Just jump in and support. Like I said in the previous answer lives are being transformed in the name of Jesus and we need more places like this making an impact in communities.
We are always so grateful to all the community members who love, support, and pray for our Mercy residents. What a blessing it has been working with Bayside Church over the years. Thank you again Bayside!
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or learning more about Mercy, please email [email protected].