“Maya Collection is a non-profit ministry that inspires and equips refugee and international women to use their God-given talents to thrive as artisans in their local community. Through neighborhood outreach, we provide encouragement, training, mentoring and employment opportunities for women and teens.”
This ministry has been actively working in Louisville since 2009, creating space for community and discipleship while helping women and teen girls harness their creativity. “We’re all about teaching skills, allowing them to make products to earn income to support their family. And, as we do that, we share the love and hope of Jesus with them,” explained founder and director Karen Aroh.
With over 15 years of community building under their belt, Maya Collection felt the need to expand. After finding a great new location, they also realized the building would need a lot of renovations to meet their needs. “This is territory I’ve never walked in,” shared Karen. “I’ve never, ever had to lease a space and make decisions like I had to make. So, I needed a contractor I could trust.”
Serve Louisville begins working
Thankfully, Karen knew just the group to call. Serve Louisville and CrossRoads Missions have had a relationship with Maya Collection for a few years, through volunteer events and personal friendships. After walking through their new storefront and workshop space, the Serve Louisville team knew that this would be a mutually beneficial project.
“They gave me confidence that this project would be successful. And I had a lot of trust that they would do it well.” Karen went on to describe one of her favorite moments of the renovation: when the boards were removed from the windows. “I’ll never forget the day when they took the boards down and the sunlight came in through the windows. It was just so cool because that’s really what we want to be is a light to the community. We’re allowing light to come into this new space for the first time in ten years. That’s huge!”
Not only was the space filled with physical light, but spiritual light as well. Every morning the Serve Louisville crew prays over their work site for the day, and witnessing this dedication made a big impact on the Maya Collection team. In Karen’s words, “the fact they started with prayer every morning meant so much to us. That there’s been so much prayer put into this space.”
Karen went on to praise the Serve Louisville team for their work ethic, dedication, and specifically the leadership of Dwight and Ryan as they coordinated volunteers throughout the renovation. Karen and her team would come by on a regular basis to meet with and encourage the volunteers, and had a special group prayer time on the last day of the renovation.
Prayers Answered
“This place that many people didn’t think would work out has worked out beautifully,” concluded Karen. “And I think that was just something that God did. He made something that we thought was impossible and showed us it was possible. He moved a mountain.”
“The move itself has provided us a new way of doing what we do at a bigger scale, and we’ll be able to impact more people now that we’ve moved into this neighborhood. We’re right on a street where there are so many internationals, which is what we do. That’s our mission! So I think the move really was huge in helping us impact more people for the Lord.”
Support Maya Collection by visiting their new location or ordering from their online store!
Want to be part of projects like this? Join the mailing list for our Serve Louisville Work Crew to get regular updates on volunteer opportunities in the greater Louisville area.
