Imagine being a grade school student during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the duration of your fall semester, you are told that you are only allowed to come to school on either Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays, and every other Wednesday. This is done to keep class sizes down in order to mitigate risk for spreading the virus. Now imagine that you have parents who work during the day, meaning that you cannot stay home alone on the days that you are not scheduled to be in school. Thankfully, your school has come up with a plan: students on their off-days who are unable to stay at home are allowed to sit outside on campus — either in the parking lot or under a large tent that the school has set up. However, you live in a large, hot desert called Southern California, and it is far from comfortable to sit outside in the heat of the day while working on homework.

Knowing that her students were unable to be in their actual classrooms on certain days, and desiring a better situation for them to work in rather than sitting outside in the heat, the principal of Beechwood School, Dr. Julie Graham, reached out to us to ask about using our church’s North Campus as a refuge for students during this unprecedented time. With complications arising during the process of working out the details, it looked for a moment as if this partnership would not be able to work.

However, God still had plans for us and was able to work out a way for this ministry opportunity to move forward. Since October 13, there have been students from both Beechwood and Rolling Hills schools using North Campus to bless and care for their students. Below is a picture that was taken of Dr. Graham’s way of saying thank you for all that we have done to help provide a safe, comfortable place for her students to work. “A light in our community.” How beautiful is that!

Cassidy Lainson