Morris Country Residents Pitch-In This Weekend: 1,500 Volunteer Shifts Available for Community Service Events

In an effort to serve an increasing number of New Jersey families in need and local non-profit organizations struggling with a rising demand for their services, Liquid Church, one of New Jersey's fastest growing Christian churches, has announced it will host a Summer Outreach event with opportunities for 1,500 volunteers to get involved in unique community service projects across 5 counties.

"Our Summer Outreach is an open-invitation event for New Jersey residents to join us in serving our neighbors-in-need. Serving others is the heartbeat of our church, but we find this is an area where the secular and the sacred agree. We can lock arms and do good together," said Tim Lucas, lead pastor and founder of Liquid Church. "Service really is a shared community value. In fact, studies reveal that our younger generations are leading the way on this front. Last year, 70-percent of Millennials got out of their seats and into the streets to serve. We hope they'll join us for our Summer Outreach!"

Each of the 5 community service projects planned for July 15th and 16th (rain or shine) look a little different. Some volunteers will be getting dirty as they dive into construction and renovation projects. Others will be serving children, teens, and young adults with special needs.

Liquid Church's 5 Summer Outreach projects are as follows:

• Morris County – Summer Family Festival – Parsippany, NJ: Volunteers will serve children, teens, and young adults with special needs at a Summer Family Festival. The free, outdoor event will have a carnival atmosphere with bounce houses, a petting zoo, dunk tank, and much more.

• Essex County – Goodwill Rescue Mission – Newark, NJ: Volunteers will renovate the chapel space and women's dining hall. Both spaces need a total refresh; new paint, lighting, and décor. Volunteers will also distribute meals to the homeless and organize thrift shop donations.
• Middlesex County – Minnie B. Veal Community Center – Edison, NJ: Volunteers will refresh this neighborhood hub serving low-income families, painting the entire space – from the gym to the classrooms. Outdoors, volunteers will garden, power-wash, and repair a swing-set and basketball court.

• Somerset County – Interfaith Hospitality Network's Sunrise House – Bridgewater, NJ: Volunteers will renovate the main living spaces and resident bedrooms at this transitional home, replacing flooring, wall coverings, doors, décor, and more. Outdoors, volunteers will garden and build a new outdoor patio space.
• Union County– Borough of Garwood – Garwood, NJ: Volunteers will give the municipal building a facelift; painting the interior from top to bottom and replacing ceiling tiles. At a local park, they will garden and install a horseshoe pit. Lampposts along Center Street will be painted and flowers distributed to local homes

"On multiple levels, the need in our state is tremendous. New Jersey has the highest rate of Autism in the nation. We consider it a privilege to serve those with a wide variety of special needs. As for our homeless population, we have more than 10,000 men, women, and children in need, and a study of financial hardship shows 38-percent of New Jersey families struggle to meet basic needs. Meanwhile, a recent survey revealed that 78-percent of New Jersey non-profits expect demand for services to continue to rise in 2016, while fewer than half expect funding to increase. All of those factors combined point to an overwhelming need for us to step-in and serve our state's most vulnerable," added Lucas.

This Summer Outreach is a family event and children are welcome to serve alongside their parents. Attendance at Liquid Church is not required to serve, but all volunteers are asked to register in advance. Details and registration forms are online at LiquidChurch.com/SummerOutreach.

Liquid Church is one of New Jersey's fastest-growing Christian churches. Officially launched in 2007 by Lead Pastor Tim Lucas, the church's vision and mission is to "Saturate the State with the Gospel of Jesus Christ," with campuses in Essex, Middlesex,Morris, Somerset, and Union Counties. Each week, more than 3,500 people experience Liquid Church's worship services in New Jersey and around the globe through Church Online. As part of its global outreach, Liquid provides clean drinking water to the poorest of the poor, with dozens of completed wells in several countries including El Salvador and Nicaragua - and most recently,Rwanda! Liquid Church's innovative approaches to outreach and ministry have been spotlighted by CNN and The New York Times. www.LiquidChurch.com.