Adventist Community Services Coordinates Hygiene Kit, Grow Box Projects

Helping others was a non-negotiable dimension of the 2024 International Pathfinder Camporee, and Adventist Community Services (ACS) buttressed many of the philanthropic projects already in motion in Gillette, Wyoming, United States.

Two particular ACS projects were somewhat attached at the hip, though they might not seem related: hygiene kits and grow boxes. Bo Gendke, ACS director for the Texas Conference and Southwestern Union Conference, offered valuable insights, focusing primarily on the hygiene kits.

“We have several organizations that work with homeless [shelters] or shelters for youth. We decided to have the Pathfinders help us make these hygiene kits: shampoo, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a comb, a razor, some shaving cream, and a towel,” Gendke said. “Some of them don’t use all the products, but we’re trying to ensure we can cover everybody there.”

Pathfinders have proven throughout the week of the camporee (August 6-9), and for many decades, that they have a genuine heart for serving those in need. There was also interest in achieving specific honors associated with various community service efforts. “[The] serving others honor through ACS is one of [them],” Gendke said, “and the other honor is the carpentry honor that [the grow box participants are] working on.”

According to Gendke, discussions for both ideas ran parallel and began last summer. On the carpentry side, “We were initially going to do tiny houses, but trying to find where we could give them out in the community was a little more difficult,” he said, “so the above-ground gardens turned out to be a better project that we could do to assist the community. We’ve been having conversations monthly for probably a year on how [and] what we would do.”

The team set a lofty goal of 7,000 hygiene kits, many of which will stay local. “We have about 3,000, I believe, that will stay in Gillette, and then the rest of them are going to specific conferences that have requested them for different ministries,” Gendke said. At the time of the interview, they were already close to the 7,000 marks, which is remarkable, considering the delays caused by the severe storm a few nights before.

Strong Support

Gendke indicated that Cathy Kissner, ACS director for the Rocky Mountain Conference and Mid-American Union Conference, was a significant contributor to these joint endeavors; so was Walter Harris, ACS director for the Greater New York Conference. Harris offered more details about the grow boxes. He mentioned his working partnership with W. Derrick Lea, ACS director for the North American Division (NAD), which sponsored both the agricultural outreach and the hygiene kits. 

Harris said discussions began approximately six months ago. “In talking with one of our partners in disaster response here in the area, the Salvation Army stated that they had a project they wanted done but didn’t have the manpower or financing to make it happen. So, we jumped right on it.”

The grow boxes are enclosed wooden structures where people can establish personal gardens. This opens the door for people, primarily the elderly, to set their feet on the path to self-sustenance, especially as food affordability becomes increasingly difficult.

The box portion is 4 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet; it also has four 1-foot legs, so it stands 3 feet tall, which will be ergonomically friendly to most users. According to Harris, these dimensions and other details were fine-tuned to stay within the parameters of available financial and other resources.

Similar to Gendke, Harris highlighted the involvement of Pathfinder youths and their eagerness to not only assist those in need but also learn a skill as valuable as carpentry. With the complexity of construction and brevity of time, the established goal is 25 units. All of them will be distributed within the Gillette community.

The original version of this story was posted on the North American Division news site.