By Shawn Bonner & Donovan Harris

It is amazing how drastically the conditions of one’s life can be changed in such a short amount of time.

In just two brief months, we have had the joy of watching nine men embrace the process of transformation through employment. South Street Ministries Reentry Services has been fortunate to play a major part in providing a life-altering employment opportunity to men and women who have demonstrated the want and the will to embrace it.

Sandridge Food Corporation offers a unique employment package that affords our participants the opportunity to earn a living wage, and it’s demonstrated in eight short weeks how quickly a person’s financial situation can alter all aspects of life for the better. 

Twelve men meet in the parking lot of The Front Porch Café every weekday to begin the 40-minute journey to Sandridge. The 30-mile ride there has proven to be one of the most beneficial factors in this experience. 

We have had the pleasure of witnessing God work in these men’s lives in ways that even they may not recognize. For example:  

• James — It has been years since he’s had a bank account. He can now finally go to an institution to cash his checks and begin a healthy financial future. He has been able to pay off various debts to agencies, get a cell phone, and pay his child support as well!
• Marvin — He really values his peace of mind … not having to worry about where he will get the finances to pay the bills he acquires. He now has a bank account and is paying bills on time.
• Whali — He is very excited about his new experience. He is preparing to obtain housing and has a vehicle as well as tags and insurance. 
• Jeremy — He got an apartment, which he also furnished. He has been able to pay off various debt and make valuable repairs to his vehicle.
• Kie — He wanted us to know that his children are growing quickly! New clothing that fits as they grow is very important to him. He bought a vehicle, has gotten his driver’s license, and is now paying his bills on time. Last but not least, he expresses that it is a tremendous confidence-builder to have a career that addresses so many obstacles — turning them into small hurdles instead!

We are also happy to provide on the way to Sandridge Foods an array of life skills and support. We talk about what is working well in the lives of the men we serve. We fill certain voids and discuss what can be better if we strategize together. And it’s all happening on the 30-minute van ride to work! 

By Joe Tucker

I can remember being at The Front Porch Reentry offices with Roy Johnson, Sr. during the first week of 2021. We watched the breaking news covering the violence and insurrection at the Capitol. Mr. Roy is the eldest of the South Street staff, his first career being in New York City in various City roles; he has made a second career in Case Management of returning citizens in and through The Front Porch. He serves at South Street out of a deep faith conviction to serve, love, and restore. 

We both felt the weight of that news coverage, and Mr. Roy voiced a despair that our democracy was falling apart. In the months that followed that first week of the year, some of us would search manically for that first vaccine appointment. We moved into the spring and summer months hopeful of gathering again, as some schools returned to in-person … and then we all learned our Greek alphabet again as the Delta-variant became common vernacular.

And we lost family. We lost loved ones. We held outdoor services, postponed funerals and celebrations. South Street Ministries lost partners and supporters who have prayed, ministered, and served with us for years.  

South Street sojourned through this year as well — with Zoom Board meetings and Book Clubs. Pivoting RICH Kids and Reentry from virtual to hybrid to in-person. We walked the streets of our communities distributing Covid kits, raising awareness about hand-washing, and connecting individuals to vaccinations and education. 

We figured out community gatherings. We prayed with those who had lost loved ones. We conversed about politics, race, and faith. We delivered groceries, built bikes, masked up, re-opened Reentry, and continued in service, leadership, and the transformational love of God. 

We also stepped into McEbright Elementary School with the RICH Kids program. We rode our bikes again at Trails N Rails and saw the South Street team grow with the addition of Elizabeth and Shawn. We delivered Thanksgiving baskets and celebrated our 8th annual Christmas Store.  

It has been a full year, and a very different year. Without over-exaggeration, we can honestly reflect that this year has changed us all. 

Yet God. 

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There is a steadfastness to His character. AND YET — God makes all things new. 

As we reflect on the past year, and look forward to the new, those two themes converge: constancy and newness. 

South Street Ministries will remain the same in the things and values that matter, AND YET so much will be made new.  

Jesse and Anne Scarcella have been involved with South Street Ministries for some 15 years now. They first got connected with the Crabbs’ family in the ’90s, and from there Jesse and Anne have served, volunteered, and given monthly to support our efforts in the South Akron and Summit Lake communities.

“We prefer to give to organizations of people we know where we can be confident that the support they receive is truly being used to further God’s Kingdom,” the couple shares. “South Street is one of those organizations — excellent stewards of the things God has blessed them with. Additionally, they are local, and we appreciate folks who are striving to make Akron a better place.”

The Scarcellas feel that as Christ-followers, they are setting an example for their daughters — exemplifying generosity in response to what God has provided. 

They love how South Street’s initial base of operations was the Crabbs’ home — “how they host Bike Shop out of their garage, how the neighborhood kids are welcome to play on their swing set, how their backyard is a pass-through route for people walking in their neighborhood! We feel like that’s a very intimate way of doing ministry, and we suspect that it’s the best way as well; it seems to mimic the model of ministry that Jesus had, which wasn’t really a model, but rather it was just living life with your neighbors and showing them God’s unconditional love.”

South Street is grateful for every individual — every family — that makes this “living life with and loving our neighbors” ministry possible on a monthly basis. Thank you for your generosity … thank you for standing with us as we strive to be a beacon to South Akron and Summit Lake!

We invite you to join the Scarcellas in 2022 in giving each month if you don’t already do so. You’ll make an important impact year-round!

It’s here! Mary O’Connor’s book highlighting Duane Crabbs, South Street Ministries of Akron, and her own journey is now available!

Get your copy of Free Rose Light from the University of Akron Press or via Amazon (please use Amazon Smile to support South Street in your purchase!), or you can listen on Audible.

South Street Ministries will celebrate 25 years of community engagement, ministerial programs, and neighborly love in 2022. This is a joyous hallmark for all, as we honor the service and leadership of Duane and Lisa Crabbs, uplift the present work of South Street, and unveil new chapters in the work that is to come!

In 2022, we are hoping to relaunch the next chapter of The Front Porch — a return to hospitality and community gathering with a sustainable, economic model. We are prayerfully working to renovate 801 Grant St. (across from The Front Porch) to be a hub and home for women coming home from prison — a Restoration House. We are hoping to reconvene for A Heart To Serve, a celebration of our supporters, volunteers, and an honorary to the Crabbs family and their legacy of love, ministry, and faith. 

We will see the return of Open Gym next year, the continued growth of #AdjustTheCrown and Bike Shop, and the expanded engagement of RICH Kids EnRICHment programs as new staff join the team to help us work closer and more impactfully with youth.  

As the South Street team grows in size, skill, and service, we also have to mature in equity and economics. We desire to build a staff that is supported in prayer and progress, as well as in pay and provision! It is our vision and will to host and lead a South Street team that ministers well and is paid and supported commensurately.

We have bold, God-given visions for what is to come … and we invite you to help us finish this year strong in order to step toward 2022 with the capacity and commitment to enact the community transformation work we are called to. Your year-end generosity and support continue to propel the ministry forward, and we ask again for that generosity as we close 2021 and move into 2022. 

Thank you in advance!

By Joe Tucker

The past year is full of stories that have a common thread:

God’s restorative work changing hearts and lives in our community — and your love and generosity in action.

Through another challenging year, His faithfulness and your support are more than evident in the work of South Street Ministries. As we close 2021, it is clear: faith, hope, and love remain.

And so to celebrate what God has done and will continue to do in the year ahead as we love our neighbors, serve the youth of our neighborhoods, continue ministering to returning citizens, and much more … please consider a supportive gift to South Street Ministries before December 31st.

I hope you’ll make a year-end contribution today to help us finish the year strong and launch 2022 — the year we celebrate 25 years of ministry together — from a position of momentum and strength.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. 

Great things await us in the days, weeks, and months ahead — “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

God bless you!