SAGINAW The theme for this year's annual meeting, which was held at the First
Congregational Church, was "Acting Now! For Education, Jobs, Transportation,
Safety."
Among the congregation of religious leaders, elected officials and ordinary
people, was a group of Saginaw high school students who are facing the city's
challenges head on.
"I think education is really number one for me right now," said Arthur Hill High
School senior Timothy Samuel.
Rev. Ken Bedell with the U.S. Department of Education was the guest speaker for
the event and said the Ezekiel Project is taking the right approach to
overcoming the city's obstacles.
"Ultimately, we're not going to succeed unless we have everybody stepping up to
the plate and saying we want to make a difference in the lives of kids," Bedell
said.
Bedell, like the Ezekiel Project organizers, believes that change can't be made
alone and that, instead, there needs to be strong partnerships.
The Ezekiel Project has been around since the late 1990s, and right now has 13
local churches and countless parishioners involved.
Sunday's annual meeting was a chance to talk about the group's recent victories
and to inspire others to get involved in 2011 when the faith-based group focuses
on finding solutions to repair problems with education, jobs, transportation and
safety.
"We need to put our faith into action, and that's what we're doing," said Joyce
Seals of the Ezekiel Project. "We identify problems and we deal with it from a
non-partisan point of view."
Samuel left Sunday's meeting with a new perspective.
"It shows me how the community is not selfish, they want to help out and we have
many individuals that are willing to do the job," Samuel said.
