There are fundraisers… and then there are the kinds that quietly remind you what really matters. Tonight’s gathering at Grace Chapel, 500 Linden St., West Liberty, is one of those. 

It brings together two very different stories that, at their core, are about the same thing: people showing up for each other. 

This evening, showing up looks like worship. Beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, May 1, Grace Chapel is hosting a worship night fundraiser supporting both a mission in Costa Rica and the Keller family. 

A heart that keeps traveling south 

Robert Bender doesn’t head to Costa Rica for the beaches or the views. That was never the draw. For the past three years, he’s been traveling with Praying Pelican Missions, through Calvary Christian School, to Las Palmitas, where the days are full and the work is meaningful. 

Mornings are spent in VBS; skits, music, laughter, and the kind of joy that doesn’t need translation. Afternoons turn practical, delivering food directly to families. It’s simple, personal, and for Robert, it’s the part that stays with him most. 

But the impact doesn’t always look like what you expect. He tells the story of a woman who rarely leaves her home. He brought her food, sat with her and listened. As they were about to leave, he planned to pray for her. She had other plans. 

“She wrapped me up in a hug and began praying over me before I got the chance,” he said. “Her prayer for me was what I should have been asking for her. I wept like a baby, that this woman, with next to nothing, was richly blessing me. What a gift.” 

That’s the shift. The quiet realization that sometimes the ones you came to serve end up ministering to you. 

The mission has grown from 11 people to 25. They’ve helped nearly complete a church building in the community. Evenings are spent playing until sunset, last year included teaching kids how to throw an American football. 

And somewhere along the way, Costa Rica stopped being a place on a map. 

“I feel like half my heart is there most days,” Robert said. “It brings so much humility to those of us who have so much. I can’t wait to go back.” 

The church in Las Palmitas isn’t just a place for Sunday mornings, it’s a lifeline. 

For about $160 a week, they’re able to feed roughly 50 people a night, every night. Mostly single moms, grandmothers and their children. It’s steady, consistent care in a place where that kind of support changes everything. 

And that’s part of what tonight supports, keeping that kitchen open, those meals coming, and that community covered. 

A family walking a harder road 

The other half of tonight’s fundraiser hits closer to home. 

The family of Jason Keller has been navigating the kind of season no one sees coming. Within 30 days, their son Hudson underwent both emergency brain and heart surgeries. Recovery now means traveling to Nationwide Children's Hospital three times a week. 

Mom is home caring for him full-time. Life has shifted overnight. 

If you’ve been around local youth sports, you know Jason — or at least the kind of man he is. The one who shows up. Volunteers. Leads. Gives his time without hesitation, year after year. 

Now it’s our turn. 

It’s not complicated. 

It’s worship. It’s community. It’s giving where it matters. 

And maybe that’s the invitation here, to step into something bigger than ourselves, and to help feed families we may never meet. It’s the opportunity to carry a family in our own community who needs it right now. 

Because whether it’s a hug in a small home in Costa Rica or a hospital trip to Columbus, this truth holds steady, we take care of each other.