Andrea Polnaszek ’94: Meeting Human Needs
“I believe the Church is the answer to our country’s and the world’s social issues,” says Andrea Polnaszek ’94, professional therapist and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Touched Twice United.
Posted on April 5, 2018 by College Communications in Alumni Stories, Featured.
This article was first published in the spring 2018 issue of STILLPOINT magazine.
When Andrea Polnaszek ’94 witnessed a four-year-old boy see trees for the first time thanks to his new glasses, she was convicted. It felt like a modern version of the miracle in Mark 8, when Christ Jesus touches the blind man once to make him see partially, then again to see fully. “I believe the Church is the answer to our country’s and the world’s social issues,” she says with confidence.
The professional therapist and her husband founded Touched Twice United in 1996, with a mission of “meeting human needs in Christ’s name” by utilizing skills within church congregations. Their nonprofit provides free clinics featuring services from optometry and dentistry to haircuts and clothing distribution.
“Touched Twice was really born from the idea of touching people once to meet their physical needs, and then looking for an opportunity to share the gospel, which is forever a change,” she says. “Your tooth will hurt again, your glasses will break, you will be hungry again, and God is the only thing that will completely satisfy.”
Groups who volunteer at the clinics extend their reach beyond physical needs by demonstrating love and care. “Touched Twice is a ministry where I could touch someone and then trust that God would do the other parts of it, and that the person would ask, ‘Why are you actually bending down to look me in the eyes and pay attention to who I am?’” she says. “For me, it’s ‘Because Jesus first loved you, and he first loved me, and I want you to know that.’”
With overwhelming demands for Touched Twice’s services, Andrea says many organizers grow overwhelmed. Resonating with the exhaustion, Andrea turned her attention in 2011 to her tired volunteers and developed The Elijah Project, a workbook based on God’s provision of rest for Elijah in the Bible.
“People grabbed hold of the idea,” she says. “Not just the Bible story, but the application of, ‘How do I do that in my work . . . so that I’m healthy and opening myself to let God heal all of me, so that all of me can be used?’”
The biblical message of The Elijah Project reached an even wider audience when Andrea’s Hollywood filmmaker sister and brother-in-law requested her help writing a faith-based film. Carefully assessing her audience and aiming to create a relatable, female-driven story of Christian faith in everyday life, Andrea incorporated the workbook into the 2015 film, Catching Faith, which streamed on Netflix for a time and was distributed in Latin America.
A little boy receiving glasses and seeing trees was just one in a series of critical moments as Andrea followed her ambition to address the world’s social needs. Although she did not realize it at the time, she says, her Gordon education equipped her with a transformative worldview that would inspire empathy and a passion for service.
“No work,” Andrea says, “will have more cause than the cause of Jesus Christ.”
Share
- Share on Facebook
- Share on X (Formerly Twitter)
- Share on LinkedIn
- Share on Email
-
Copy Link
-
Share Link
Categories
Tags
Categories
Archives
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014