Teams of 10 people will go out into the community Saturday to help those in need.
Each team is asked to have a captain and have each person bring at least $10. They will be assigned a family to assist, go to their home and use the money to provide them with what they need the most.
“If they need their bill paid, we pay that bill. If they need groceries, we get a list and we’ll go get their groceries and bring them back. If they need gas for their car, we could either get a gas card or just go follow them and pay for their gas,” said Sara Bowling, kitchen manager for The Alley in Seymour and a member of the team that organizes the Thousand Ten Project.
“Car repairs, we could make the appointment and pay for the repair,” she said. “Medications, we will just go and pay for them.”
The only rule is teams can’t give out cash.
If a team comes together to help someone they know, they can do that instead of being assigned a family, Bowling said.
“If there’s a family on their heart that maybe they are not in the pile and they say, ‘Hey, I know someone, I’m just going to take my team and we’re going to go serve this family,’ that’s OK,” she said.
“There are very little rules. The more teams that come, obviously, the more people we can help, so it really depends just on our outcome each year.”
The 10th year of the Thousand Ten Project will start at 11 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot at First Baptist Church, 505 Community Drive, Seymour.
As teams register, members will receive T-shirts, and lunch will be provided for a freewill donation. There also will be praise and worship, including music by The Alley Sonworshippers, and prayer.
Then at noon, teams will hit the streets to help local families.
“You don’t have to be affiliated with the church to come or be a part of a team. You can come as a single person,” Bowling said. “They don’t have to even have $10 to come. There’s stuff that you can do that day that even if you don’t have $10, you can still help.”
With the rise in COVID-19 cases in Jackson County, Bowling said teams should take that into consideration as they help their families.
“We are asking if you go to someone’s home to just mask up and be as careful as you can be,” she said.
In years past, teams would reconvene later in the afternoon to share testimonies. This year, though, that will take place during The Alley’s regular service at 7 p.m. Sept. 24.
“We want to encourage the teams to invite the families that received the help that Friday night also so we can hear from both sides,” Bowling said.
Anyone unable to be a part of Saturday’s event can still donate to the effort or The Alley, which serves meals every weekday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and helps people in other ways.
Donations can be dropped off at the First Baptist Church office or mailed to P.O. Box 191, Seymour, IN 47274 designated to the Thousand Ten Project. Any money coming in after Saturday will go into the benevolence fund.
Bowling said she has been a part of the Thousand Ten Project for several years and always is impacted by the event.
“It just gives me hope and that warm, fuzzy feeling,” she said. “Seymour is a small town, but when it comes together, it’s amazing, and nothing could stop us. It’s just awesome the things we can do when we come together in unity.”