Building stuff

Building stuff is hard.

We've been through the process several times now.  It never gets easier.

Thursday we are set to open our new Opportunity Center.  We really aren't ready to open, but we decided two months ago that this Thursday would be the day.  Two of our three partners are operational.  We need to get moved in, and we will make it.  But, it's not been easy. 

The project itself has been a challenge. 

Thanks to so many private donors, we've been able to construct a very funky, urban cool structure at one of the major gateways to South Dallas-Fair Park.  From the beginning we were committed to developing a first class community center that would gather resources and partners to deliver a collective impact on one of the poorest areas of Dallas. 

When you work among "the poor," folks who possess limited material resources, you have to make peace with changes in vision even in mid-stream!  I've signed off on multiple change orders, all of which seemed justifiable at the time, given the circumstances. 

But who really knows?

What I do know for certain is that we care for people consigned to lives in "the surround" of poverty.  In fact, it's not too much to say that we love them.  They are our friends, our neighbors, people who are worth our highest and best efforts and resources.  The "poor" are our very best partners and they are experts on the subject of poverty.

And, I know our new center will make a huge, transformative difference in the lives of the people who enter its doors. 

That certainty makes all the uncertainty and difficulty seem very, very small indeed.