Last week marked the 15 year anniversary of the opening of Maggie’s Place! Since 2000, Maggie’s Place has opened its doors to over 700 mothers and their children. As a first year MissionCorps, it has been such a blessing to share in a small part of the Maggie’s Place legacy by living, working, serving, and praying alongside a handful of moms, babies, volunteers, donors, MissionCorps, and staff.
The Celebrating 15 Years of Love video had an awesome quote that caught my eye. Mary Peterson, the founder and former executive director of our organization, describes what she desired Maggie’s Place to be: “When it came to the Maggie’s Place vision, my heart was simple. I wanted to be with people. I wanted to serve. I wanted to share my life with others. I wanted to know Christ in my daily work. ”
As MissionCorps, we have the opportunity to do all these things every day. We get to be with others, to serve others, to share our lives with others, and to find Christ in others. Sometimes doing this takes the form of providing intense support to our moms, while at other times we get to carry out this mission in the simplest of ways.
For instance, one of my most favorite memories of simply sharing my life and serving a mom occurred a few weeks ago. Kathy, one of our moms here at The Elizabeth House, was thinking of ideas of how to celebrate her mother’s birthday with a meaningful gift without spending a bunch of money. She ended up asking me if I could help her make a homemade dessert for her mother, and I delightfully agreed! Together, we spent an evening making cake pops, complete with colored chocolate coating, pretty sprinkles, cute little gift bags, and ribbon. Her mom was so surprised by the homemade birthday gift, Kathy was thrilled to learn how to make a new dessert, and I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to share my baking hobby with another person.
At Maggie’s Place, it becomes evident that we all have different God-given talents and skills that allow us to serve one another. We all have things to learn from one another. We have the opportunity to teach the moms things, but more importantly, we have the opportunity to learn things from the moms. For the past 15 years, Maggie’s Place has provided hundreds of people the opportunity to share their time, talents, and lives with others. What a blessing it is to be here!
By Gretchen Smith, a MissionCorps member
