B-COOL and B-KIND in Concord

By Martha Stone, B-Cool Leader at Trinity- Concord

Ok, sure. It’s all well and good to open your home... invite a few people to spend time together... share a meal... a little conversation. The vision is pure joy at the outset. When a whole bunch of other stuff fills your calendar between the day the invitations go out and the day of the party, that’s when it gets real and you say to yourself, “I must have been out of my mind! Who ever thought hosting a party at our house was a good idea?”

The narrative at Trinity Concord with St. Stephen’s Boston couldn’t have been further from that kind of panic when we launched B- Cool in early August. When we heard that St. Stephen’s kids were coming to play at our house, parishioners from every generation stepped up for the sheer joy of it. Collaborations in baking, photography, floral design, collecting, writing, organizing, recruiting, gardening, teaching, smiling and laughing made the day.

From our youngest camper (age 5) to our oldest volunteer (91) we worked together, got hands dirty together, shared stories together and got sticky, soaked and sudsy together. Trinity’s teenaged “sidekicks” supported individual teams to guide and get to know their campers as they moved from activity to activity.

In 4 hours, some 60 campers, 15 staff and CITs and 25 volunteers shared hundreds of interactions – some planned, some serendipitous. These connections deepened the gratitude for our long-standing ministry with St Stephen’s.

We wouldn’t have believed it if we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes, heard it with our own ears and felt it in our own hearts.

Click here to see our one-day adventure for yourself.