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The 150 Challenge is a year-long initiative for the betterment of our community. Through this
website you can be a change agent by helping complete 150 projects to solve problems and improve
the quality of life in our Lehigh Valley. You can suggest a project, support it as a volunteer,
or be a sponsor. You can help find partners, bring people and resources together, and invest
yourself in a big community movement.
The focus of the 150 Challenge will be to help people in need and the organizations that serve
them, as well as promote quality of life projects in our community.
Why the 150 Challenge? More than a century ago, a local man named Obadiah Becker gave a great gift
to the Allentown community, when in 1900 he founded the Allentown Rescue Mission. Tens-of-thousands
of people have been fed, housed, comforted, guided to better lives, spiritually uplifted - and in
some cases, rescued from death. This year marks the 150th birthday of Obadiah Becker, his
sesquicentennial.
Today, his ministry – the Allentown Rescue Mission – is a strong and vital part of our community.
If Obadiah were here to chime in on how to honor his memory, he would ask that we reach out help those
in greatest need. He would not want any commemoration to be about him or even his rescue mission. He
would want your time, talent and energy to go to those in our community who are struggling, and need
help the most. Therefore, none of the 150 projects will be for the direct benefit of the Allentown
Rescue Mission.
Your suggestions and nominations will start the process of doing projects. The possibilities include
food drives, programs for school-age children and youths, advocacy for veterans, direct help to human
service organizations, "days of caring" to do work at agency facilities, graffiti eradication, dumpsite
clean-up, care for damaged cemeteries, and many other projects. Perhaps you have seen a need, and did not
know how to address it. Now you can, right here. This is a bold initiative, setting high goals for
partnerships, cooperation and results.
"As a sort of test project, the Mission's Clean Team went after a local dumpsite and cleaned it up, carting
away 2 truckloads of trash, paint cans, scrap wood, broken strollers, beer cans and bottles. "We could
do dozens of these as part of the 150 projects," said Gary Millspaugh, of the Allentown Rescue Mission.
This site will be the meeting place and center, to pull together the people and resources needed
for this huge initiative. Here at 150Challenge.org in the weeks to come, you will be able to view a
list of projects. As projects move forward, updates will be posted on here on 150Challenge.org, with
photos or video, as available. When projects are completed, the results will be viewed on this site.
To put your name in as a potential volunteer, partner or sponsor, reply to this email address:
info@150challenge.org
To nominate a project, send an email to this same address.
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