Pretty Pony Pasture Event

On Saturday, September 19^th, the Life 3^rd team organized a work party at Pretty Pony Pastures, in Davisburg, Michigan. As many as 50 volunteers participated in this family friendly event. Pretty Pony Pastures specializes in therapeutic riding programs for persons with physical, emotional, and mental disabilities. Pretty Pony Pastures was founded by Tom and Linda Watson, who maintain the various programs offered. They rely heavily on the abilities and gifts of volunteers to keep the programs going.

The maintenance of the 27 acres that surround Pretty Pony Pastures has become more than can be managed by the owners. Live 3^rd arrived to a long list of maintenance and cleaning projects. With chainsaws and weed whackers roaring, volunteers managed to clear a 3 foot wide path around the perimeter of the 5 acre pasture where the horses spend their time. This was an essential maintenance item because overgrown vegetation was within the reach of the horses, resulting in some dietary difficulties.

Another team of volunteers cleared the 5 acre pasture of manure while others washed down the stalls, disinfecting the stall area and preventing potential health hazards to the horses. All the while, volunteers enjoyed the company of 13 Haflinger horses who are both friendly and curious. This was an unexpected surprise for many of the volunteers…especially the children.

The Live 3^rd volunteers were able to hang bulletin boards, remove cobwebs (#1 one fire hazard in a barn), put a fresh coat of paint on a planter, and provide maintenance to the 10 sliding stall doors. All volunteers quickly became aware of what goes into managing a facility such as this and the many tasks that are taken for granted.

Linda and Tom expressed profound gratitude for all of the work that was completed. They were thrilled that we were able to complete so many of the items on the list and feel well-prepared for the Fall and Winter season that is fast approaching.

There was a great sense of satisfaction among the volunteers as they saw a great transformation in only 3 hours. The Live 3^rd Team is grateful for the many Men, Women, and Children who took a few hours out of their Saturday to provide a great service to the community and the people who are served by Pretty Pony Pastures.

September Event

September 19th
Our next project is quickly approaching. We are going back to an organization called Pretty Pony Pastures in Davisburg. They specialize in therapeutic riding programs designed for persons of any age with physical, mental or emotional disabilities.

We will be helping them with general maintenance of the grounds and barns.Our project is set for September 19th at 10 am. This is a great project to bring the whole family too.

Sign up begins this Sunday, so stop by the table for more info. You can also check out their website to learn more about them.

We hope you can make it.

Community Garden Update

Just a little update on the garden.....

So far this year we have been able to directly help about 5 families from the River by providing them with vegetables. This was based on recommendations from different life group and church leaders. We have also made about 6 donations of various sized to Gleaners throughout the season. We've provided herbs, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, cucumber, peppers, beans, and potatoes with these donations.

Now comes the fun part..... The tomatoes are finally starting to really ripen and we will have close to a 1/2 ton to give away (literally). Also, the potatoes are almost ready to harvest and we will have quite a bit of them to give away as well. If you or anyone you know can benefit from either the tomatoes or potatoes, please let me know. We don't really have to be choosy in who gets them because there will be plenty to go around.

Our plan is to take care of as many people within the church 1st and take leftovers to Gleaners.

If anyone has any interest, please contact live3rdgarden@gmail.com to make arrangements.

July 11th

Our next project is quickly approaching. We will be working with an organization called Pretty Pony Pastures in Davisburg. They specialize in therapeutic riding programs designed for persons of any age with physical, mental or emotional disabilities. We will be helping them with general maintenance of the grounds and barns.

Our project is set for July 11th at 10 am. This is a great project to bring the whole family too.

Sign up begins this Sunday, so stop by the table for more info.
You can also check out their website to learn more about them.


We hope you can make it,

Community Garden

The purpose of The River Community Garden is to grow a plot of fresh vegetables for people in the community who would otherwise be unable to obtain them. Vegetables will be donated
to local families that have need and to local food banks. The Community Garden will be
located at the River property on Old US23. It will contain a wide selection of vegetables and herbs.

May 30th - Planting Day- we are looking for donations of several plants, seeds, garden hoses and sprinklers as well as volunteers to help plant all the plants.


If you are interested in helping out with this project, or would like to donate some of the needed supplies, please contact Dave Hallman @ 248-789-2320 or via email: live3rdgarden@gmail.com

This is a great project for the whole family!

June Project

We will be heading the Grace Centers of Hope on Saturday, June 6th. Grace Centers is located at 35 E Huron St, Pontiac. Grace Centers of Hope is considered one of the leading faith-based organizations in Southeastern Michigan daily confronting issues of homelessness, addiction, poverty and spiritual emptiness. On any given night, Grace Centers of Hope will accommodate between 150-200 men, women and children. We will be preparing and serving lunch to the residents of Grace Centers. Please consider signing up to help us, the lunch shift runs from 10:30 - 1 pm. We need 12 people for this project.

Please make sure you wear closed toe shoes and if you have long hair be sure to pull it back.

Spring Hill

Have you heard about our Spring Hill Event happening April 24 - 26? We will be leaving "convoy style" on April 24 at 9am to drive to Spring Hill. We will enjoy 3 days of fun activities, fellowship and serving for a total of only $30 per person including meals and amenities. We currently have 62 people confirmed and are certain to have even more, and you are going to want to be one of them. Be sure to sign up soon at the Compassions table if you want to be part of this outstanding family event.

March Project

Our next project will be here before you know it. It is scheduled for Sat, March 28th at 10 am. We will be working with Promise Village Home for Children, helping them with a mass mailing project. We will be helping them collate, stuff and seal 13,000 envelopes! This mass mailing project is an essential part of the fund raising efforts for Promise Village, so our help is greatly appreciated. Due to the nature of this project it is not suited for children under the age of 8. We will be meeting directly at Promise Village -11511 Terrace Rd, Holly MI. Mark your calendars - We hope to see you there.

Sleeping Bag Handout - 1/24/09

On a Saturday afternoon, a group of Live 3rd volunteers piled in to two vans and headed to downtown Detroit to pass out sleeping bags to the homeless living on the streets. Along with the sleeping bags we also handout out kits containing hates, gloves, socks, food, personal hygiene items and a Bible.

Thank you to those who donated items for the kits, to those who donated money to cover the cost of a sleeping bag, and to those who went out and delivered the sleeping bags. Thanks to your generous donations were able to increase the number of bags we gave out this year.

Geoff Caddell:

As one of the leaders of Live3rd and one of the guys that went out on this Sleeping bag mission, I can tell you this is an awesome event. The first year we did this project we were able to find a group of homeless persons in the underground section at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit.

This year we made the mistake of going out while the Auto Show was in progress, but we were still able to find those in need with a little more determination. Thanks to all the people who donated monies and items that went along with the bags. We were forced to split the cargo into 2 minivans having too many sleeping bags than could fit in one van was an awesome problem to have. While one team of guys scoured the streets of Detroit the other team went by the nearby bridge underpasses were they found over 10 people in need of bags.

The van that I was in had a little bit harder time finding people on the streets but we were able to find some. One man unparticular, Sheldon, was standing in an intersection with a “will work for food sign” we spotted him as we drove by the intersection, Steve James the driver of our van quickly pulled to the side as Ben Carpenter and I jumped out and ran to street corner and yelled to the man if he wanted a sleeping bag, Sheldon ran over to us almost getting hit by a car in the process. He was so excited to have a bag and the package of items that we gave him along with it. Ben and I talked to him for a couple minutes while he told us that there were more people that use the bags we had at a local warming center. After talking to Sheldon and telling him to keep warm and safe he shook our hands and we were off to find the warming center that he had talked about. We were able to meet up with the other van and together both vans dropped of the remaining bags to the warming center.

To put the night in perspective even though we had a little bit rougher time finding people that could use the bags finding that one person, Sheldon and taking a few minutes to talk to him, while almost standing in the middle of the street at a busy intersection, even just for a couple minutes was well worth it.