Taking a Break From Friday Evening Gatherings at The Redemption Movement

After 21 months of hosting Friday Evening Church Gatherings out of our old storefront on River Street, we've made the decision to put a stop to our Friday event while we seek the Lord's guidance for a new direction. The Redemption Movement will continue as a church; we just need some time to determine what our next steps will be. In a way, it's like we're hitting the church reset button.    

We've come to the conclusion that the Friday gatherings at our River Street location are not furthering the goals and mission of The Redemption Movement, as evidenced by the low attendance and the disappointing lack of visitors. One purpose of our weekly gatherings is to grow the church, which requires support and participation from people--after all, the church is people.

What's Next for the Church?

Kaler preaching 1 of nearly 80 RM sermons.

While the church plant is blessed to have found favor within our community, this favor has not translated into church attendance on the level we need it to in order to sustain the activities of the church, like public fellowship meetings put on every week. It's our hope that the new direction will be able to contextualize the Gospel in such a way that people in our Oneonta mission field will feel compelled to visit and even support the church.

Fridays Feel Beyond Repair

We don't know what the future looks like for The Redemption Movement, but one thing we do know: Friday Evening Gatherings at 148 River Street aren't working, and to quote Albert Einstein, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results."

To be sure, in the span of 21 months we tried several different things with the Friday Evening Gatherings in the hopes of seeing different results; only to arrive at the conclusion that, "There is absolutely no changes we can make to the meeting format or to the building that will cause a new person to want to visit." As you can image, this is a rather discouraging place to lead from. Therefore, we feel like it's the responsible move to cease hosting Friday Evening Gatherings while we determine what the next step is.

Advent 2014: Laura leading one of the last Friday worship services.

Our Sunday Morning MCG Will Continue

During this transitional time, Sundays will be the only day of the week when our church regularly meets. Since last Spring we've been holding a Missional Community Group every Sunday morning at 10am. Our MCG is like a Sunday School class, but with more of a focus on the specific mission of The Redemption Movement, as well as a time of personal discipleship. Lunch and a group act of kindness done for our community typically follows.

We use our Missional Community Group to develop leadership for the church, which means that the content is very specific in regards to the Christian faith. Therefore, we encourage newcomers to first contact us before coming to our Sunday morning MCG so that we can first talk with you about what to expect. 

Full of Optimism: Launch 2013

As soon as we come up with a new time, format, and perhaps even a different location for our weekly public gatherings (i.e., a weekly event that a non-Christian seeking truth will be comfortable attending), we will post the information to our website, blog, eNewsletter, and Facebook page. Decisions about this next step will prayerfully be made by our Missional Community Group. 

You are welcome to join this group and give input regarding our plans if you would like to commit to the mission of The Redemption Movement, and you're welcome to visit on Sunday mornings if you're interested in learning more about the mission of this church before committing to be a part of it. Feel free to contact Pastor Kaler for more information.  

Sign Up for Our eNewsletter!

We've worked hard to design an eNewsletter that keeps readers informed with the latest from The Redemption Movement. Whether you're just curious about what goes on at The Ol' Storefront, or you're a committed member, we think that this eNewsletter will provide everyone with a concise, regular, and enjoyable snapshot of our organization.

In this eNewsletter you will find pictures and stories from our acts of kindness, news about community events and shows, information about our church gatherings, and what the next steps and plans are for this movement. In the past, we relied solely on our blog and Facebook page to get the word out about RM. Now, we're excited to offer people a new way to stay informed and keep in touch.

Click the link and fill out the form to sign up: http://eepurl.com/90sFv

The ROI of AoK (The Return On Investment of Acts of Kindness)

2014 was a big year of community outreach for The Redemption Movement. By doing a church-wide act of Kindness every Sunday, along with other various outreaches like designated driving, welcome-back-to-school week, rock shows, holiday care packages, the Town & Gown Gala, and much more, we directly reached more than 1,000 Oneonta residents with "a small act to show God's big love." With so much of our time, money, and resources put into this AoK ministry (45% of our current church budget), we have a responsibility to ask ourselves, "Is it worth the investment?"

More than 1,000 kindness cards passed out in 2014.

The Return On Kindness 

Businesses have a formula called ROI that helps them determine if an investment is profitable or not. Essentially, companies compare the total cost of their investment to the amount of revenue the investment brought in. If all goes well, the ROI formula will show a profit.

Due to the fact that churches are non-profit, it's difficult to apply this financial ROI formula to church expenditures. Instead, for a church, a more appropriate ROI-type question to ask would be, "Are these investments furthering the goals and mission of the organization?" For our church, these acts of kindness furthers some of our goals, but not all of them.

Goal #1: Church Growth

Like any organization, every church desires to grow and will use much of its resources to meet this goal. For the majority of Christian churches, the goal of growth is spiritualized and made the primary goal of the organization. This is due to the fact that adherents to the faith believe that church growth is directly tied to Jesus' Great Commission. This is true of the mission of The Redemption Movement, and it's one of the defining traits of what it means to be an Evangelical Church.

Therefore, let's first take a look at how much our kindness efforts in 2014 have impacted church growth. Pastors and leaders from other churches who are considering doing acts of kindness for the sole purpose of growing your church, take note.

50 care packages with candy and a $2 bill given to people working on Christmas.

Concerning the 2014 acts of kindness completed by our church, the ROI for church growth is rather dismal. Of the more than 1,000 Oneonta residents reached by acts of kindness (and 1,000 is a conservative estimate, the actual totals for the year include a few hundred more), not one of these people visited our church. Zero, zilch, nada; not one person that we directly showed the love of God to with an AoK in 2014 stepped foot inside of our doors. This includes the dozens and dozens of people that enthusiastically received our kindness and replied, "This is great! This is the nicest thing that anyone has done for me. I'll be sure to visit your church!"

Granted, we weren't trying to use our AoKs as a heavy-handed method to invite people to church, but the conversations often went in the direction of a church invite, and every kindness card we passed out includes our church address, meeting times, website, and contact information. Therefore, I want to communicate to my fellow church leaders that, if you're considering doing acts of kindness for the sole purpose of growing your church, then you will be disappointed with the results (or the lack thereof).

Goal #2: Reputation Improvement

In today's headline-driven culture, people outside the church don't have to look very far to find a story about something rotten a Christian leader has done; or worse, a person may have had something rotten or judgmental happen to them at the hands of someone belonging to a church. Unfortunately, a far-too-common reaction to these negative stories and experiences is for a person to write off all of Christianity as rotten to the core. If somebody who makes such generalizations about Christians only surrounds themselves with others that share their negative worldview, then they will have no reason to believe otherwise about the faith.

Donating 1,200 pounds of concrete mix to our friend Jo for an AoK.

The beauty of reaching out with acts of kindness is that it breaks unexpectedly into a stranger's life and lovingly challenges negative and false generalizations about Christianity. For us, the ROI for kindness concerning improving the reputation of Christ and His followers has been very good. Thanks to all the outreach and kindness that we've shown, our community thinks very highly of our new church, and we've forged positive relationships with several individuals who strongly disagree or may even feel hostile towards the faith.

For The Redemption Movement, improving the reputation of Christianity and the church is a huge goal that we've met through acts of kindness. In fact, we feel that our church is called to sow goodwill and the good news in a community known for having a hardened heart. Therefore, we will continue to do this work of reaching out and loving people in practical ways, knowing that it's a much needed first step towards healing, and that this healing must happen before a person would even think about visiting a church or seriously consider the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Goal #3: Showing the Love of God

Free funnel cake!

Showing God's love with acts of kindness is the primary reason we do them. For us, showing kindness is all about being obedient to God's commands to, "Love our neighbors as we love ourselves."

As Christians, we feel like it's our duty to display God's character to those around us, which means loving others sacrificially. When it comes down to it, continuing to show our neighbors kindness isn't a matter of, "If there's an adequate return on the investment or not;" instead, it's a matter of being obedient to the commands of our Lord. And regarding obedience, one never questions the cost of doing what they're supposed to. After all, Jesus Christ our Savior invested everything he had for the sake of our salvation, which meant being obedient to death on the cross. For Jesus, He didn't get to see the return on His investment until His resurrection. As followers of Christ, we've been given the promise that we will one day see a great harvest (i.e., a reward) on our investments of kindness that we've shown.

In conclusion, instead of calling this ministry "Acts of Kindness, or AoK," perhaps a more accurate description would be IoK, or an "Investment of Kindness." Be on the look out Oneonta for more kindness invested in you for 2015!

120 Thanksgiving Workers Given Care Packages

Last year, we did our first act of kindness to Thanksgiving workers and blessed 50 people with thank you cards containing 2-dollar bills. For this year's Thanksgiving outreach to workers, we increased our goal to 150 people and included the card/2-dollar bill in a decorated care package that also contained candy and baked goods. As much as we wanted to pass out all 150 Thanksgiving care packages, we were only able to giveaway 120, which by all accounts, isn't too shabby.

One practical lesson here is that, for our method of simply driving around and seeing what's open, 120 is the maximum number of gifts that a team of two can distribute in a four hour time period. If we had planned our route more in advance, or had a second team, then we might have been able to accomplish our goal of 150. Regardless, 120 acts of kindness in one evening is something to be proud of, and as a bonus, the thirty extra bags of goodies and money won't go to waste because we plan on going out and doing this again in the near future, and we can use the unused Thanksgiving cards for next year.

Onto this year's Thanksgiving act of kindness adventure. After a delicious meal with friends and family, we added the final touches to the care packages by; adding chocolates and baked goods to the bags, putting money into the thank you cards, and then loading all 150 bags into the car. It was a pretty involved process that made cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner look easy. Even though it took awhile to bag up everything, we had fun and it looks like we've got ourselves a new post-Thanksgiving meal tradition.

With the backseat overflowing with care packages, me and my visiting mother put on Santa hats and headed down River St. to our first destination, Sears.

• Sears: It was 6:30 pm and we knew that Sears had just started their Thanksgiving sale. In their newly remodeled store, many workers were at a station in the middle of the store. We introduced ourselves to one of worker, gave her a care package, and because the other workers appeared busy, we asked her how many workers they had on staff that night. We then left her with the appropriate number of bags. While we were passing out the bags, the store manager came out and seemed appreciative of our efforts. This was a big sigh of relief because whenever we do outreaches like this, we halfway expect to get told to leave by store management. Over the course of the night, our fear was proven false by multiple managers. 
• Hampton Inn: This was a quick and easy stop and we blessed one night manager. 
• Stewart's: There were two employees working at Stewart's. One seemed touched by the AoK and the other remembered us from last year and shook my hand.
• Country Store: A young lady was working the counter. We put a big smile on her face.
• PC Pro Solution Inc: A multigenerational family was working the store with two small boys playing with toys on the showroom floor. We gave two bags to a man that appeared to be the grandfather and told him that the children would enjoy the candy.
• Hess Gas Station Main Street: We showed up during a shift change and were able to bless employees from both shifts.
• Dunkin Donuts Main Street: The two employees seemed very appreciative and the manager gave us both a cup of coffee.
• A O Fox Hospital Nursing Home: We followed a middle-aged couple into the nursing home, it turns out that they were visiting their daughter who had to work on Thanksgiving. The daughter oversaw the wing. She informed us that there were six workers on shift that night in her wing so we left her with six care packages.
• Holiday Inn: We gave two bags to a very friendly and appreciative lady at the front desk.
• Office Max: We first approached two employees outside on a smoke break. One knew me by name and was super excited that his bag had pictures of ducks on it. Inside the store, we met up with a manager that pointed us in the direction of all the employees. Additionally, we were able to giveaway care packages during an employee meeting. Before we left, we gave packages to employees at the cash registers, and one cashier said that she'd like to visit our church. Office Max was a very positive experience.
• JCPenny: One of the first people that we ran into was the store manager as he was passing out candy canes to customers. He seemed genuinely appreciative of what we were doing and he even remembered hearing about us passing out thank you cards in his store last year. He told us to make sure that every one of his employees gets a care package. We proceeded to follow his orders and track down workers from all corners of the store. As we were about to leave, a supervisor approached us and told us that, "The girls in jewelry want to see us" (we forgot about them). We paid them a visit and they smiled extra big when they saw the 2-dollar bills. 
• Dick's Sporting Goods: Dick's was yet another example of finding favor with store management. After giving care packages to a few employees, we encountered the store manager. We explained ourselves and had a nice chat. He also told us to give the gifts to his employees and to especially make sure that the seven cashiers up front are included because of how hard they're working. By the time we made it to the front, a manager was expecting us and helped us distribute the care packages.
• Southside Mall Cinema: Our friend Peter Elkund from Campus Ambassadors was working and we got to have a nice chat about ministry and bless him and his coworkers with care packages.
• Super 8 Motel: We got to bless a nice lady working the front desk that told us she had to work two jobs and seven days a week to make ends meet.
• Hess Gas Station Hwy. 23: The clerk on shift was trying to fix a coffee machine that had spilt coffee all over the floor. You can tell that he really needed an act of kindness and he told us that it really cheered him up and that he wants to visit our church.
• Denny's: At Denny's, we were greeted by another manager. We told him what we were doing and he seemed touched by it. He volunteered to pass out the bags to his staff and he even hooked us up with more coffee! 
• Cooperstown Medical Transport: We went across the street to another gas station and encountered two ambulance drivers heading back to their ride. I approached their vehicle and passed out a care package to them. They appreciated the gesture and shook my hand.
• Red Barrel Food Store: There were two lady's working at this gas station and they both had big smiles on their faces upon receiving the gift. There were some customers in line behind us that saw the exchange take place, and as we were leaving we overheard them comment to each other, "That's so cool."
• Courtyard Marriott: Here, two more hotel employees told us that this AoK made their night.
• NY State Trooper: We even saw a State Trooper parked on Hwy. 23 watching traffic. We pulled up alongside him and give him a care package. He thanked us and shook my hand.
• Walmart: This was the big one. We were putting off Walmart until the crowds died down, and by now it was 9:30 pm and the store was manageable to maneuver through. Walmart had extra staff on hand and they were easy to spot in their bright yellow vests. We began by approaching a group on their smoke break and they were appreciative. Next, we moved inside and passed out gifts to employees that we came across. Eventually, a manager saw us and told us that it would be better if we dropped off the care packages at customer service. As we waited in line at customer service, we assessed the situation. Seeing how busy they were, it seemed to us unreasonable to leave 50+ bags with $100 worth of cash to someone that we didn't know. We left the customer service rep. with five bags and moved on from Walmart. It's worth noting that several of the Walmart employees that we offered care packages to refused the offer because they thought it would get them in trouble. It was sad that we were unable to freely distribute the care packages to Walmart workers because there were so many of them. We could have easily passed out 100 bags and blessed a lot people. On a positive note, the half dozen Walmart workers that passed out care packages to were very appreciative of the AoK.
• McDonald's: Inside Walmart is a McDonald's. We gave their staff of three care packages. They seemed very thankful. There were also a few Walmart workers in McDonald's that just got off their shift. We made sure to give them some care packages too.
• Budget Inn: At this hotel we might have disturbed the guy who ran it/lived there, seeing at it was now past 10 pm. Still, he seemed thankful for the gift.
• Clarion Hotel: The employee running the front desk only had half an hour left until he got to go home. He seemed very thankful for the gift and told us that it made his night, and he shook my hand.
• Kwik Fill (Red Apple): There was one employee on shift and she said that the AoK really cheered her up. 
• Dunkin Donuts Chestnut Street: It was now close to 10:30 pm and we saw that Dunkin Donuts was open. We gave out two care packages and the guy working the register gave me a big thank you accompanied by a big handshake.                                 

At this point in the night, it was late and we couldn't think of a local place that was open that we hadn't already visited. We saw some plow trucks drive by and thought about the City Works department, but upon arriving at their facility, alas, nobody was there. Therefore, we called it a night and decided to save the 30 extra care packages for another outing.

And when I got home, I found myself tagged in this Facebook post :)

Oneonta Comes Together for Town & Gown Gala

On November 9th at Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center, a very special community event took place that helped bring healing and unity to the City of Oneonta. The Town & Gown Gala  was organized to bring together Oneonta's student and resident population after a rough start to the semester. The gala also aimed to bring comfort to both students and residents after a SUNY Oneonta student was critically-injured in an altercation last September, and the city faced a tragedy of their own after losing a beloved mayor in October. For the few hundred people in attendance representing both the town and the gown, virtually everybody walked away feeling a stronger sense of community--making the TGG a success!

What Made the Town & Gown Gala So Special?

There were multiple aspects about TGG that made it special for our city. First off, few events in Oneonta are like the TGG, which was alcohol-free and designed for the expressed purpose of bringing the two groups together while raising money for a community member in need.

Second, events of this size and scope where 7 bands perform and both colleges and multiple community groups participate, typically take months of planning. In the case of the TGG, the event was organized in one month because it was determined that, in light of the divisions the city was experiencing and the need of the injured student, if something was to be done, then the sooner the better.

Thirdly, the funding of the event made it unique. Since no one had the time to solicit donations and sponsorships, the event was made possible thanks to people, organizations, and artists stepping up and helping out because they were passionate about such an event taking place.

Oneonta is a Caring Community

Oneonta is a compassionate community that was saddened to learn about a student becoming injured last September. Therefore, when people heard about the fundraising effort, they were quick to support it. The support that Oneonta showed for student Tyler Gianacola is heartwarming and impressive. Over $800 was raised to help Tyler's family, and when it came time for the candlelight ceremony to talk about both Tyler and Mayor Miller, more than 150 people gathered in front of Foothills. At the ceremony, it was announced that over $500 was raised for Tyler and the crowd cheered. By the end of the following rock concert, the crowd cheered again when the donations grew to $800.

A Fun and Educational Social Mixer

The first two hours of the event was a social mixer that sought to bring together the community with education and entertainment. Various groups from both the colleges and the community were represented at tables, and several of the tables provided carnival-style games for kids. The games used tickets that could be redeemed for prizes like candy and toys, and even live goldfish were given away by OnMark, the SUNY Oneonta marketing club, as well as face painting provided by the SUNY Oneonta Student Advisory Council. Additionally, there was a drawing for a new television. To enter the contest, all one had to do was get twelve initials from the various tables. And to encourage people to socialize, the itinerary contained suggested icebreaker questions for people to ask one another.

As people got to know each other, there was live music featuring artists from both the town and the gown. Folk duet KJ Carney and Sky Miritello kicked off the gala with their sweet harmonies, followed by a set of acoustic blues from Heaven's Back Door. Closing out the social mixer portion of the gala was the upbeat and contemporary sounds of the student band Summer Symphony.

In between the performances from the bands were speakers from organizations raising awareness for social issues relating to the recent tragedies experienced by the community. Rebbecca Harrington from the Know Violence committee of SUNY Oneonta spoke about how violence affects everyone. Julie Dostal from LEAF spoke about the value of doing alcohol-free activities like the gala, and Donna Lange from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention educated the room about suicide.

The tone of the mixer was friendly and warm, and a big part of that was due to Abbey Koutnik in full clown apparel working the room with props and jokes. She even contributed wonderful balloon sculptures! 

A Warm Candlelight Ceremony 

The candlelight ceremony was the climax of the gala, with a large crowd showing up right before the candles were lit, almost doubling the crowd from the previous social mixer. The SUNY Oneonta Inter-Greek Council went above and beyond by organizing and running the fundraiser. Even though the wind and city code didn't allow for the use of paper lanterns like originally planned, they still managed to light enough candles during the ceremony to make it beautiful and memorable.

At the candlelight ceremony, Pastor Kaler Carpenter of The Redemption Movement spoke about how Tyler's injury personally impacted him and related the community's response to that of the Good Samaritan. SUNY Oneonta student and friend of Tyler, Nicole Jones, then read a prepared statement from Tyler's mother thanking the community for their support (Tyler was unable to attend the event due to his injuries).

Next up was Council Member Mike Lynch who reminded the crowd of both students and residents how much his friend Mayor Miller would have liked to have seen the community brought together like this. After a moment of silence was observed for Miller, Carpenter then invited everybody to file inside for a free rock show, and it wasn't long before the production room at Foothills was full of people waiting to hear the opening band Kardia.

The Foothills was Filled with Music

For the rock show, all of the bands played their hearts out and a sizable crowd stayed throughout the duration of the event. The room was full of positive energy as a crowd gathered around the front of the stage and clapped and cheered. During the music, people were having a good time as glow sticks were waived and people danced with balloon animal sculptures.  

Before Kardia played, G Winnard got the crowd warmed up with an upbeat selection of electronic music mixed with some sweet dance moves. Kardia then took the stage, opening their set with an intense drum-corps-style performance that teased the crowd with what they were about to experience.

Post by Kardia.

With the exception a cool Journey cover, Kardia played original songs that synched to an impressive light show.

There were three bands after Kardia, and two of them were student bands from SUNY Oneonta representing Red Dragon Records--Bray and Living Proof. Both bands were full of energy and had a harder sound that the audience responded well to. For Living Proof, the night was extra special; it was their first show and the message from lead singer Danny Cohen about not allowing substances to control one's life fit perfectly with the night's theme.

Post by Living.Proof.

In between the two Red Dragon bands was El Dred, a guitar and drum rock duo made up of Walton natives Ryan Eldred and Ben Ray. For El Dred's set, the crowd smiled got into it as Ryan's upbeat and catchy tunes commanded the attention of the room and got people dancing.

When the rock show was finished and the lights were flipped on, many from the crowd stayed afterwards to help with clean up, including students from the SUNY Oneonta service club Alpha Phi Omega who stayed until everything was put away. Overall, the gala was truly a remarkable event that was made possible because so many people were involved and helped out.


Click here to see Living Proof's First Set at TGG!      

TGG was a Turning Point for The Redemption Movement

For The Redemption Movement, the Town & Gown Gala was the biggest of many community events organized in the organization's brief history. An event like TGG was a natural progression of what a movement of kindness looks like. Pastor Kaler's approach to RM's outreaches has always been, "See a need, meet a need;" and after seeing the alcohol-fueled problems and risks associated with the city's downtown party scene, the strain that these problems were causing on community relations, and seeing tragedies like what happened with Tyler and Mayor Miller, stepping up to the microphone and attempting to meet such daunting community needs by organizing an event like TGG is a natural course of action for a church experienced in kindness and rock n' roll.

During Kardia's performance, guitar player Justin Wisner mentioned that this was the second time the Pittsfield-based band played Oneonta. Their first time was last December at The Redemption Movement to a much smaller crowd of 7 people. Throughout the evening, other artists shared similar stories about playing at the Ol' Storefront on River St. and working with Kaler to put on all-ages community rock shows. Many of these shows weren't well attended, and many community outreach efforts by RM have been done on a very small scale. Albeit, with each small show and small AoK, artists and people from the community walked away feeling loved and like they participated in something special. Therefore, when these artists, students, and community members who were reached with kindness by RM in the past were called upon to participate in a large-scale event like TGG, they did so without hesitation. In turn, hundreds of people were touched, which will lead to hundreds more being blessed--this is what a movement looks like.

Thank You

Raising $800 for Tyler is worth celebrating. It was cool to see Bray play to a large crowd after watching them grow as musicians and gel as band at small rock shows on River Street, and it was equally special to be able to provide Living Proof with such a special first show. KJ and Sky played one of the first shows at our church while it was still under construction and they're forever welcome at RM. Ryan and Ben are always such a joy to work with, and it was wonderful to make connections with new artists like Summer Symphony and Heaven's Back Door. I'm sure that we'll do more events together with our new friends in the future. 

A big thank you is in order to Bill, Sue, and Geoffrey at The Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center for donating the space, to Council Member Mike Lynch for taking a chance on a young church planter, to Steve Perry, Vice President of Student Development at SUCO for his valuable input, to the SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick student senates and the City of Oneonta Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations for supporting and attending the event. Thanks to Chris at EveningWith Designs for his amazing graphic work, to OnMark for their above and beyond promotional efforts, Libby and Ian from AllOtsego.com for the excellent write up. Thanks to all the community groups that participated with a table, and last but certainly not least, thank you to the helpers from the Redemption Movement (Laura, Michael, Keith, Jeremy, Greg, Angel, Katy, and Garland), who's help made the entire event possible.

Because of the efforts of everyone mentioned in this blog article, along with others that didn't get mentioned (you know who you are), it truly feels like Onoenta is a stronger and more united community.

"Cheers to the Town & Gown Gala on Nov. 9. The event, which included activities and entertainment, aimed to help improve relationships between the city resident sand college students ....While the Gala won’t solve all the town-gown issues, we applaud the effort in trying to bring residents and college students together and encourage more opportunities like that." --The Daily Star, 11-18-14

More pics from TGG!

Post by The Redemption Movement.

Act of Kindness, Black Friday Edition

Last Thanksgiving, we blessed 50 Black Friday workers by passing out handmade thank you cards with a $2 bill tucked inside. This year, we're tripling our effort and hoping to increase the giving. For this year's Black Friday workers, we've got 150 personalized care packages and thank you cards ready to pass out and we're asking for your help to fill them with even more holiday cheer.

Last year's Black Friday gift.

If we can raise $150, then every worker will get $1. If we can raise $300, then we can do the $2 bill again. If this AoK goes viral and we get thousands of dollars donated, then it will be evenly spread out across the 150 care packages and we'll be able to make a huge difference in the lives of retailer workers having to sacrifice time with their family to work on a holiday.

150  personalized care packages ready to go!

We're also accepting other goodies and treats to put into the care packages to go along with the candy and cookies that we've already got set aside. You can drop off treats at The Redemption Movement, 148 River St., Oneonta, NY. This is the same address to send a check to. If you do send a check, please email rm.gigs@gmail.com and let us know about your gift so that we can set aside the appropriate funds and keep a running total (which we will keep a tally of on our blog). If you wish to give electronically, then send us an email or Facebook message to receive further instructions. All gifts are tax deductible.

Loving on Wal-Mart.

The RM Kindness Team will go from store-to-store on Thanksgiving and Black Friday passing out the care packages. We'll document the outreach and post it for your enjoyment. What are you thankful for this holiday season? If it's spending time with your family or getting rock-bottom deals, then be sure to spread that cheer to those behind the scenes that make it all possible.

Together, let's shine some light on Black Friday!

Update 11-25

Good news! We just received a generous $300 donation for this outreach, which means that we can pass out 2-dollar bills to 150 workers as part of our Thanksgiving/Black Friday care package!

We're still accepting donations for cash and treats. Any additional money that comes in will mean that we can bless workers with even more. Perhaps two 2-dollar bills, an Abe Lincoln, or even more? It's fun to dream big when your giving kindness.

“Town & Gown Gala” Aims to Unite Oneonta Community

Event seeks to unify the community, educate about social issues, and fundraise for an injured student.

 ONEONTA, NY – For the Oneonta community, the beginning of the Fall 2014 school semester was marred by an increased number of complaints from city residents regarding student behavior expressed at City Council meetings. Tragedy was also experienced as a SUNY Oneonta student became seriously injured in an assault. Taking place at Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center, the “Town & Gown Gala” on November 9th is a community-initiated response that seeks to bring people together, especially Oneonta’s students and city residents.

“One month ago, this event was just an idea that myself and City Council Member Mike Lynch had after a 4th Ward neighborhood meeting,” said Kaler Carpenter, event organizer and pastor of The Redemption Movement. “Since then, it has quickly grown into this amazing event featuring 7 bands and participation from a wide variety of both student and community groups. It doesn’t get any more grassroots than this.”

Beginning at 3 p.m., the free event will take place in the production room at Foothills. From 3-5 p.m., attendees will be able to see performances by local musicians Sunshine Symphony, KJ & Sky, and Heaven’s Back Door, as well as poetry readings from the SUNY Oneonta Slam Poetry Team. Additionally, there will be several community and student groups represented with tables that share information and provide carnival-style games for kids.

Tyler with his Mom Beth. 1-27-13. Credit 27east.com.

Also during this time, there will be fundraising going on for SUNY Oneonta student Tyler Giancola. The SUNY Oneonta Inter-Greek Council will be selling sky lanterns and wax-paper bags to illuminate an outdoor candlelight ceremony taking place at 5 p.m.

Tyler was seriously injured after an assault that took place downtown in the early morning hours of September 14th. Tyler’s injuries were originally diagnosed as critical and required a two-week stay at the Neurological Intensive Care Unit at the Albany Medical Center--a time where he was under sedation and on a ventilator. Miraculously, Tyler is currently on the road to recovery and working with a physical therapist at his home in Westhampton Beach, NY.

Mayor Miller (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)

At the 5 p.m. candlelight ceremony, there will also be words spoken to memorialize Oneonta’s late Mayor, Dick Miller. “Dick would have wanted the event to be successful,” said Council Member Mike Lynch. Mike originally approached Mayor Miller about the idea for the Town & Gown Gala in early October, and the Mayor responded by playing an instrumental role in getting the event off the ground--the kind of roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done initiative that characterized the Mayor’s approach to city government.

 During the 3-5 p.m. casual social mixer, there will also be scheduled speakers raising awareness regarding social issues surrounding these recent tragedies. Representatives from LEAF and the OFO Violence Prevention Program will be speaking. Suicide prevention will also be discussed, and there will be additional tables with information about different social issues.

Kardia

After the candlelight ceremony, the gala will then end on a positive note as a free rock concert kicks off with Albany/Pittsfield-based rock band Kardia--a family-friendly band that just released a new album entitled “Those Who Would Challenge the Sun.” In addition to playing the show, Kardia will be running sound and providing production equipment for the entire event.

El Dred

Additional artists for the rock show include two SUNY Oneonta student bands Bray and Living Proof, as well as El Dred, which consists of local artists Benjamin Ray and Ryan Eldred. Ryan is best known for his popular ska-punk band Catch Twenty-Two, and he has worked with Kaler and The Redemption Movement this past year to headline multiple community rock shows.

For event organizer Kaler Carpenter, putting this together in a month’s time has been, “A whirlwind of reaching out to everyone I know, and it’s been great to work with so many people that are passionate about uniting our city. I believe that a community event like this is exactly what a grieving Oneonta needs right now to lift our spirits and bring people together. Plus, if we’re able to pull together and help this young student in need, then it will all be worth it.”

Organizations supporting the Town & Gown Gala include: The City of Oneonta Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations, Foothills Performing Arts & Civic Center, SUNY Oneonta Inter-Greek Council, The Redemption Movement, LEAF, Student Association of SUNY Oneonta, First Night, OFO Violence Intervention Program, Rock for the Cure, OnMark, Alhpa Phi Omega, BASIC, Campus Ambassadors, EveningWith Design, and more.

Facebook event for the Town & Gown Gala: Click Here.

Additional fundraising efforts for Tyler are being held at Hunt Union on 11-6 and 11-7.

Want to help with event promotion? Join us on Sunday afternoon 11-2 for reverse trick-or-treating! Contact us to RSVP. See the Facebook event page for more information.

Helping to Solve Oneonta's Student/Resident Divide with Light Bulbs, Free Rides, and Punk Rock

By Kaler Carpenter
The beginning of the semester for SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College means the return of thousands of college students to Oneonta, New York--almost doubling the city's population. For the residents of Oneonta, this cycle of quiet summers and hectic autumns are a way of life that defines what it means to live in a college town. However, this particular year has seen more complaints than previous years about student behavior issues. Some Oneonta residents are even making the claim at city council meetings that, "It's the worse that it's ever been."

City Council mtg, 9-15. Daily Star.

The bulk of these complaints come from city residents living in Oneonta's Center City neighborhood; a unique residential zone, strategically located between the two colleges and Oneonta's downtown with its bars and nightlife. The neighborhood has its fair share of off-campus student housing, and many of these student apartments are located next to full-time residents.

Most of these neighborhood complaints are quality-of-life issues in regards to noise and vandalism, and many of the problems originate and happen downtown where the bars are located. Sadly, the worst downtown problem this Fall happened when a SUNY Oneonta student was left critically injured after getting into a fight that was influenced by alcohol. Tragic instances like this, along with the increased amount of complaints from residents, have caused city residents and even institutions to reevaluate this nightlife model and be open to new ideas that can help alleviate the problems.

I don't want to go into all of the complaints made by Oneonta residents about why this year is "the worst." These complaints and statistics are easy to find and are well publicized, and they are dividing the community--perhaps in such a way that truly does make this year worse than previous years. Mike Lynch, the City Council Member representing the troubled Center City neighborhood, recently told me, "The time for complaining has come and gone and we have to get to work," and, "We need a positive dialogue and ideas."

Community Building at RM

In this spirit of community reconciliation, our church has been working hard to make big strides over the past two years in order to help bring healing to our community (this is an old problem). In the past, we've not joined the community dialogue on this issue because we felt too new and too small, but, in light of recent events and cultural developments, we feel like now is the time to share our ideas and experiences with the community.

Reaching Out to Your Neighbors with Respect and Kindness Goes a Long Way

The situation reaches "worst ever" levels whenever each side stops showing the other side respect. I am friends with both students and residents and I have seen how ugly attitudes can get when respect is removed from the equation. The two extremes will say things like, "Students aren't really a part of our community. They come, they go, and they ruin everything," and, "Oneonta would be nothing without us students, therefore, we're entitled to behave however we want." Both of these attitudes lack respect for the other side, i.e., their neighbors.

If neither side respects the other, then the student behavior problems will only worsen. For example, let's say that you're a student traversing through Center City at 1AM and you feel emboldened after having a little too much to drink. As you walk by the homes of residents, you perceive that they despise the fact that you go to school in Oneonta and that they can't wait for you to leave town. If that's the how you perceive things, then being rambunctious, littering, and even vandalizing will be a natural reaction.

If on the other hand, you met people living in these homes that welcomed you to Oneonta, and these people included community members that aren't even associated with the college, then you will have second thoughts about smashing that flower pot or snapping that newly planted tree in two. After all, 'These neighborhood people seem to really care about me, so I should return the favor and respect their quality of life and property."

To this end, during the first week of school for both this year's and last year's Fall semesters, our church has done a full week of outreach projects to serve the students and welcome them to our community. During these welcome weeks, we helped students move into their dorms, facilitated and participated in all-ages rock shows featuring music that students enjoy, and made ourselves available during peak party hours to give students free rides home. As a student, you begin to look at Oneonta more fondly if a local resident volunteers to move your futon up three flights of stairs and takes you home during Rush Week after you've had too much to drink. Essentially, community members welcoming and respecting students makes them feel like they're a part of the community. 

In light of all the recent feelings of hostility, our church has stepped up our efforts with our Sunday Act of Kindness ministry. This Fall, in an effort to bring healing to the neighborhood, we've been going door-to-door in Center City with a basket full of free light bulbs and batteries. We lovingly give these gifts and we have been specifically targeting students, and as we give the free gift away, we welcome the students to the neighborhood and tell them how much we appreciate their presence in Oneonta.

We have climbed rickety staircases leading up three floors and gone down some sketchy-looking hallways to get our message across, but we feel that it's worth it. Plus, with this particular act of kindness, almost all of the students we reached were both surprised to see us and extremely thankful for the free gift. It's a very rewarding way to spend a Sunday afternoon and it doesn't take long before our basket is emptied.

At the time of this writing, we have done this outreach on 4 occasions, going up and down 24 streets in Center City. In total, we have given away 115 light bulbs and 210 batteries, and as you can tell from this map, there are plenty more streets that we have yet to cover. As long as the weather holds, this is how our church will be spending our Sunday afternoons into October. You're welcome to join us, or you can donate to the cause to help us purchase supplies.

Now, you may be thinking, "Your church isn't in the Center City neighborhood. You don't know what it's like living next to these students." This is true. However, the effects of drunken hooliganism have made its way to the 6th Ward and we've experienced annoyances like the ones troubling our Center City neighbors. Annoyances like, having our patio furniture stolen, having our church sign stolen, having eggs thrown at our front windows, having our pumpkins and flowers smashed, finding drug paraphernalia on our property, and we have to close our house windows on Friday and Saturday nights or else be awoken at 3AM by drunken yelling. Now, I know better than to assume that local college students are responsible for all of this, but the timing is suspect.

Post by The Redemption Movement.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if it was or wasn't students that stole our banner or egged our church, the point that I'm trying to make is the value of showing respect. In fact, our faith teaches us to go even further than showing respect and to show forgiveness and love to those that have wronged us. This is why I feel like the local church is in a great position to represent the community and reach out to the students with respect and love. We are a forgiving people that want to serve the needs of the community, even to someone that may have stolen our patio chair the night prior.

Giving Students Free Rides Gets Them Home Safe and Reduces Neighborhood Noise 

Another activity that we feel has been making a difference is our designated driving service. This is a wonderful ministry where we park our car in front of a downtown bar or restaurant during a busy night and offer people free rides home. We make the rides available to everyone, and by far, the majority of people that take us up on our offer are college students.

Now, I can tell you many amazing stories about getting people home safe that had too much to drink (many of whom were underage), but in keeping with the purpose of this article, I want to hit on another positive aspect of this service, namely, it reduces the amount of foot traffic in Center City. A keen observer of our city's current crisis understands that one of the most long-running complaints comes from Center City residents dealing with the late night foot traffic of students in front of their homes.

So far during this Fall semester, we've performed this service 5 times. This equates to getting 135 people home safely. That's a possible 100+ people that didn't walk through a Center City yard, break a flower pot, awaken a family with noise, or worse, gotten into a coma-inducing fight or been sexually assaulted.

At this point, our designated driving service is small and infrequent. It consists of me and a helper and we use my personal car. We want to find a way to provide this service to our community more often, as well as get more community groups involved. If you would like to get involved with this outreach or support it in another way, then I encourage you to join our new Facebook group "Oneonta Designated Driving Crew." We feel that there's a strong need for more designated driving services like this, and we'll be happy to help coordinate this community effort.

Additionally, there's a value in just hanging out downtime during peak party hours and making yourself visible as a caring older adult from the community. It's my observation that when things get crazy downtown, there are few non-student/mature adults to be found, and it's my opinion that young students would show more restraint if they didn't feel like they had a 10:1 advantage in the downtown nightlife.

There's a Need for a Downtown Community Space Hosting Alcohol-Free Activities

To be fair, Oneonta's downtown has a lot going for it, but the options become thin if it's late and you're under 21. I think this is fueling the perceived rise in house parties in Center City, more so than the recent shutting down of a couple of bars, as theorized in the local newspaper. And to be fair to the colleges, both institutions excel at providing safe and alcohol-free activities to their students on campus.

However, I think that even if the colleges provide more activities, students will still make their way down the hill on a Friday and Saturday night, and subsequently drag themselves up the hill early Saturday and Sunday morning. Anybody that's experienced college will tell you that the weekend means escaping the campus bubble and experiencing real life, and Oneonta's bar-filled downtown provides a convenient escape.

I think that an all-ages venue/community center downtown would help alleviate a lot of the problems. It would have to offer activities during the late night party hours, and the activities would have to be attractive enough so that students will actually want to participate. Realistically, a place like this won't keep a student from drinking that's committed to going out for that very purpose. However, even if 1 hour of their night is spent downtown watching a punk band play without alcohol, then that's 1 less hour of drinking alcohol. Less alcohol in the body means less potential problems, both to themselves and others.

Free funnel cake for show attendees.

It turns out that our church has experience in facilitating such activities. Until recently getting shut down by city code enforcement for having an inadequate building, we used to successfully provide all-ages rock shows for our community. Even though we are located away from downtown, we were still able to draw students to our location, even during the party nights.

These shows and community events were successful for us, and we believe that we can do these events on a much larger scale if we had a space downtown where we could once again put on live music and provide other activities that both students and city residents would enjoy. This is one reason why we're currently forming plans to move The Redemption Movement downtown. We're in the very early stages of planning, but we are very serious about making the move. Any help that we can get with this effort would be greatly appreciated, and we encourage you to keep an eye on this blog and our Facebook page for when these plans come together and we begin fundraising. 

RM's last show before getting our music shut down.

One of the things that brought me great joy at these shows was seeing how the music brought the community together. Many establishments in town are known either as a student venue or a townie place, but what happened at The Ol' Storefront was a wonderful Oneonta anomaly that brought the two groups together. It was rewarding to watch relationships form between townies and residents. Ultimately, Oneonta needs more of this. The more opportunities available to build bridges between the students and local residents will better help our community come together and realize that, you know what, the other side is alright after all.

Contact us to get involved with the community-building efforts of The Redemption Movement, or reach out to Pastor Kaler if you would like to include our church in the outreach plans of your own community group