UCC - A Birthday the Brooke Brothers Will Never Forget

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

A birthday the Brooke brothers will never forget

> Written by Jeff Woodard
> February 1, 2011

> Push to Play

> Brooke Brothers interview in Arizona

Richard and Maxwell Brooke could have celebrated
their 23rd birthday with a night out, an evening
at home with family and friends, or quiet time with a special someone.

Instead, their natal day Jan. 25 found them on
the other side of the country, in the middle of
the desert, at the epicenter of both immigration debate and national mourni 
ng.

The twin brothers from China Grove, N.C., are
near the midway point of a monumental, 10-month
mission to present a multimedia chronicling of
UCC Volunteer Ministries on the UCC web site,
Facebook, Twitter and their web site, twinmaps.com.

As of Jan. 31, they had driven their Kia Sorrento
8,500 miles through 21 states, stopping to
document volunteer efforts at 26 sites.

When their birthday rolled around, the Brookes
were in southern Arizona, immersed in the
trenches of the immigration struggle ? and awash
in a community?s compassion. They arrived in
Tucson just five days after the Jan. 8 shootings
that claimed six lives and critically injured 14
people, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

"The mood in Tucson is somber, reflective,

respectful and hopeful," the brothers wrote in a
blog entry dated Jan. 17 ? Martin Luther King Jr.
Day. "Hundreds of people are offering scripture,
letters, poems and words of encouragement. The
unity felt in Tucson this past week has been inspiring and uplifting."

The next day ? led by "Shurra, a short, spunky,
grey-haired lady with the energy of a teenager
and the personality of a martyr" ? the Brookes
and dozens of others crossed the border into
Nogales, Mexico, to deliver blankets, food and
basic toiletries to those in need. From there,
the stories of struggle have been many.

After two weeks in southern Arizona, the brothers
wrote in a Jan. 30 blog entry, "We?ve seen some
incredible things. An activist community has been
a bright spot in the raw and dry desert. People
are dying. They die trying to cross the border,
and they die because they don?t have enough food.
Last year alone there were over 200 documented
deaths in the deserts of Arizona."

The brothers? immersion in Arizona included time
with Humane Borders, a local non-profit that
transports a 300-gallon tank of water to fill
55-gallon barrels in the desert for border
crossers. "We travel with John, a retired
minister for the morning and visit five water
stations, each of which are marked with a tall, blue flag," they write.
The brothers are more than disheartened to learn
that vandals have drained most of the water at
all five stations. "We do what we can and refill
them," they write. "By the end of our trip, we
have drained the entire 300-gallon tank of water
in the truck. We can only hope that this water is used to keep someone aliv 
e."

The first half of the brothers? massive mission
has also covered parts of the Midwest, the East
Coast and the South. Among their stops have been
the Interreligious Task Force on Central America
in Cleveland; the South Appalachian Folklife
Center in Pipestem, W. Va.; the Westmoreland
Volunteer Corps in Washington, D.C.; youth
service groups including the UCC AIDS Network
(UCAN)/AIDS Service Center in New York City and
the Every Child?s Hope urban mission experience
in St. Louis; Gould Farm, a residential treatment
program for adults with mental illness in
Monterey, Mass.; and the Disaster Recovery
Project, focused on repairing and restoring flood damage in Nashville.

Still ahead on the trail are the Northwest

(including stops in Portland and Seattle), the
Plains states and several weeks at Back Bay
Mission in Biloxi, Miss., and New Orleans, where
Hurricane Katrina rebuilding continues.

The scope and depth of the journey have been
awe-inspiring for the Brookes, who will present
an overview of their experience at General Synod in Tampa, Fla., July 1-5.

They write in another blog entry: "We've enjoyed
company with German volunteers, Danish
volunteers, middle-aged pastors, young couples
with a future, homeless people with nothing but
the clothes on their backs, young adults fresh
out of college with their talents to give to the
world, the mentally ill who are spiritually full,
the well-to-do who are willing to give, the
intelligent with all to give away, the ambitious
with everything to gain and, most importantly, each other."

To follow the Brooke Brothers? trails, log on to
www.twinmaps.com for blog updates, photos, videos and more.