Yesterday I interviewed Jane Williams of the Columbia branch of Love INC, to find out more about what is happening in Columbia to care for the needy in our community. I came away with a greater view of the scope of the problem but also a greater appreciation of what is being done. In a nutshell, Love INC is a middle-man between the needy in the community and the churches. People with needs call them and Love INC can connect them with Christians who can help.
Putting faith into action can be intimidating because the huge size of the need seems overwhelming and unfamiliar, but organizations like Love INC provide people with a way to get their foot in the door and serve real people in with their real needs.
Here are some excerpts from our interview:
Q: What is Love Inc?
A: Love Inc is a 30 year old organization started by a social worker in Holland Michigan who thought it would be a good idea for churches to work together in more strategic ways to address the needs in their community. The idea was to create "clearing house" where you actually gather information about what is available in churches and in the community so that when people in need call in you can actually give them referrals. Our goal is really trying to connect people with churches. Love Inc is not a church, we are just a little hub to try and point people to churches... and we are trying to help provide people with safe, manageable opportunities to move people out of the pews and into the community.
[From the Needy to Churches]
When people in need call in we try to help them. We engage them in about a 30 minute interview to try and find out their whole story. A lot of times they can’t pay their utility bill because they don’t have a job, and they can’t get a job because they have a felony conviction, or they don’t know how to make a resume, or they are just deer in the headlights depressed. They just need someone who will give them a chance. Or they grew up in foster care and no one really ever taught them how to live life. So we try to find out what are the underlying issues and we have started some life skills classes. A of people need help budgeting their money, finding a job, or the just need self-confidence. They just need to understand how to relate to people. Mainly though they just need friends. I have heard a few stories of people who have made it out of generational poverty, but never have I heard a story of a person whose done that without someone getting in their lives and helping them
[From Churches to the Needy]
A lady from a church came in yesterday and said that their youth group wants to put together Thanksgiving baskets but she don’t know any needy families, and she asked if we could give her a needy family to adopt for the holiday season. That church happens to be in an area where there is a lot of need. We get calls from there all the time, and we tried to connect them to a family close to their geographic area. Because we get all the calls in here and we can see that we can map out where the churches are and try to do that.
[Big Needs]
We also get situations where the need is so great we know we are going need to mobilize lots of people to help. We helped a family last month whose father has cancer, hasn’t been able to work for a year. The mother is from another country and couldn’t get a job because her papers had expired and they have 6 children. It’s taken a small army, but we have helped them find housing, get married, her get her ID. It turned out that they were never able to get married because she didn’t have proper ID. Its because we didn’t just say can we give you 50 bucks for your utility bill to ease our guilt. You plunge in. It takes plunging in and it is really messy and it always takes longer than you think.
Q: What can college students do to get involved?
A: A great thing for college students to do would be to come spend a few hours a week answering the phones over here. There is a real education in just hearing people in crisis and their story. The people who answer thephone don’t have to solve the problem. We triage and try to figure it out together. They wouldn’t be thrown in to the middle of solving the problem, but they would have the opportunity to hear some stories. We have a scripted interview. It’s pretty clear cut. Or they can help with the life skills program we are doing. We need childcare workers every week and would love to have people show up and hold some kids. They are mostly children of single moms who would not be able to attend the class unless you provided childcare.
Showing posts with label Project: Columbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project: Columbia. Show all posts
Friday, November 7, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Project: Columbia - Food Bank (2)
Here is the rest of the interview with Peggy Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Central Missouri Food Bank:
A: In the 16 years you have worked at the food bank, how have you seen Columbia change?
P: I’ve been in Columbia since 1960 and what I have seen over those years is that it has grown from a rural community to much more of a metropolitan society. Some of the basic pillars that have made this community great are still here, namely, a huge capacity to care and to be generous to those around us. Of all of the communities we cover I never see a response to a need like I do in Columbia. Part of that is because of the University and the colleges here. Part of it is because people just have the sense that they are fortunate. I’ve seen a gap growing in this community between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” The middle class is disappearing. It is a very challenging time. Columbia has always been fairly immune to anything that is going on in the economy at a national level, and what is happening right now is that Columbia is starting to feel what everybody else has been feeling for years.
A: So you see the impacts of a downturn in the economy directly?
P: Oh sure, we see it in a couple of ways. We have extensive partnerships with the business community. Where a huge amount of our support comes from is individuals, businesses, and the faith community. The business community gives the most, then individuals, then the faith community. The business community is strapped right now, and we can see that from the point of view of donations. I’ve seen this community kick in to action when there is a need, but right now they are all looking around and saying “We don’t know what we can do.”
A: If you could give one message to the faith community in Columbia, what would it be?
P: It would be “believe God’s word.” You know that scripture, “faith without works is dead”? I see more of the church today saying, “I will believe it when I see it.” That’s not faith; that’s sight. Faith is getting out of the boat because Jesus said, “Come.” Jesus also said to feed the poor, to clothe the naked, and to visit the sick. He said that he will supply all our need according to his riches and glory. We don’t believe.
A: You are in an interesting spot because you are where the rubber hits the road and you get to see if the faith community in Columbia is really doing those things.
P: I have spent years seeing churches not do anything more than they put in their budget, and I can’t find anything in the Bible that backs that up. The Bible says that we are supposed to ask God, “What do you want me to do?” And if he calls you to do something he is going to provide for it. Living by faith is the most scary thing I have ever done, and yet it is the most rewarding thing also, and God proves himself every single time. That’s my heart cry. If I could reach any group in the world today it would be the church, because it breaks my heart. We as a church are looking at the world the same way the world is looking at the world. We are looking at man for our supply and there is nothing in the Bible that says that.
A: What do you think college students can do?
P: They can change the world if they want to.
A: What does that look like practically?
P: First of all, pray about it, and then get as educated as you possibly can about ways that you can get plugged in.
I can guarantee you you are going to start out with enthusiasm, then you are going to get somewhere in the middle then it won’t be fun any more. It is going to be boring, it is going to be yucky, it is going to cost you your time, your talents, your resources. They are not going to be grateful. You are not going to get great accolades from the world and every step of the way you are going to learn who you are really doing it for.
A: In the 16 years you have worked at the food bank, how have you seen Columbia change?
P: I’ve been in Columbia since 1960 and what I have seen over those years is that it has grown from a rural community to much more of a metropolitan society. Some of the basic pillars that have made this community great are still here, namely, a huge capacity to care and to be generous to those around us. Of all of the communities we cover I never see a response to a need like I do in Columbia. Part of that is because of the University and the colleges here. Part of it is because people just have the sense that they are fortunate. I’ve seen a gap growing in this community between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” The middle class is disappearing. It is a very challenging time. Columbia has always been fairly immune to anything that is going on in the economy at a national level, and what is happening right now is that Columbia is starting to feel what everybody else has been feeling for years.
A: So you see the impacts of a downturn in the economy directly?
P: Oh sure, we see it in a couple of ways. We have extensive partnerships with the business community. Where a huge amount of our support comes from is individuals, businesses, and the faith community. The business community gives the most, then individuals, then the faith community. The business community is strapped right now, and we can see that from the point of view of donations. I’ve seen this community kick in to action when there is a need, but right now they are all looking around and saying “We don’t know what we can do.”
A: If you could give one message to the faith community in Columbia, what would it be?
P: It would be “believe God’s word.” You know that scripture, “faith without works is dead”? I see more of the church today saying, “I will believe it when I see it.” That’s not faith; that’s sight. Faith is getting out of the boat because Jesus said, “Come.” Jesus also said to feed the poor, to clothe the naked, and to visit the sick. He said that he will supply all our need according to his riches and glory. We don’t believe.
A: You are in an interesting spot because you are where the rubber hits the road and you get to see if the faith community in Columbia is really doing those things.
P: I have spent years seeing churches not do anything more than they put in their budget, and I can’t find anything in the Bible that backs that up. The Bible says that we are supposed to ask God, “What do you want me to do?” And if he calls you to do something he is going to provide for it. Living by faith is the most scary thing I have ever done, and yet it is the most rewarding thing also, and God proves himself every single time. That’s my heart cry. If I could reach any group in the world today it would be the church, because it breaks my heart. We as a church are looking at the world the same way the world is looking at the world. We are looking at man for our supply and there is nothing in the Bible that says that.
A: What do you think college students can do?
P: They can change the world if they want to.
A: What does that look like practically?
P: First of all, pray about it, and then get as educated as you possibly can about ways that you can get plugged in.
I can guarantee you you are going to start out with enthusiasm, then you are going to get somewhere in the middle then it won’t be fun any more. It is going to be boring, it is going to be yucky, it is going to cost you your time, your talents, your resources. They are not going to be grateful. You are not going to get great accolades from the world and every step of the way you are going to learn who you are really doing it for.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Project: Columbia - Food Bank (1)
Here are some excerpts from an interview with Peggy Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Central Missouri Food Bank. We had a chance to talk about the Food Bank and what it does to help combat poverty, what poverty looks like in Columbia, and what the faith community can do to help.
Andy: Tell me a bit about the Food Bank. How did it start?
Peggy: The food bank started in 1981. It was started by an interesting group of people: the community action agency here in town, a social work class at social work class at Columbia College, and areas churches. The whole purpose of food banking is to keep good, edible food out of the landfill, and take it from the growers, producers, manufacturers, etc. and get it to the people who need it. We started in October of 1981 and distributed about 18,000 pounds of food. To use a business analogy, a food bank is like a wholesaler. We bring in food form all over the US, warehouse it in this building, and then redistribute it out to 145 relief agencies in 32 counties. That is our service area. The retailers in this equation are food pantries, shelters for the homeless and the abused, senior programs, rehab centers, etc. We are the only food bank in the state and only one of five in the country that gives our food away for free.
A: How did you get involved?
P: Before I came to the food bank I was a computer programmer and analyst at the University of Missouri – not even close to what I do now. Now, if you know anything about the University, where you work and where you park your car are never close together, and I had about a 2 block walk to get to my building. My path took me down alleys behind fraternity houses, where I would see homeless people in the dumpsters. I thought they were digging for cans to redeem for money to use it for whatever drunks and bums use money for. As I walked by I would pacify my conscience by saying “at least they are doing something for the environment.” One day I walked by the dumpster, being fairly nosy and being fairly self-righteous, and I saw a homeless guy eating the garbage in the dumpster, not getting the cans. I grew up in Columbia and that is the last thing in the world I expected to see. It absolutely horrified me, but not enough to change the way I went to work or to be determined to do something about it – it just horrified me. My very first thought was “it is the government’s job to do something about this. They need to be feeding these people,” or “It’s the city’s job. They shouldn’t let homeless people in the dumpsters.” It never occurred to me that as a Christian it was part of my responsibility. For seven and a half years I looked at that, I looked away, and I kept walking. One day walking by looking at the same sight I said probably the sorriest prayer anyone has ever said, “God, this is wrong. You need to do something about this or send somebody to do something about this.” I always tell people “be careful when you pray that prayer” because that somebody just might be you. The next thought that came into my mind was “What about you, Peggy, why don’t you do something. You’re somebody.” Two months later I was at the Food Bank.
I didn’t want to come here, but I have been here 16 years. People don’t expect you to preach the gospel by what you do every day in a secular organization – which is an unfortunate statement – but I have had more opportunities for that here than I ever would have had in a church.
(On the types of poverty in Columbia)
P: There’s really two types of poverty. There is generational poverty and there is situational poverty Generational poverty is the people for whom hunger is just symptom of the problem. They usually have been in poverty for 3 or 4 generations. They have educational issues. They have abuse issues. Usually bad parenting and role models. They don’t know how to handle their finances. It is just a lot of stuff and food is just one of their problems. They need a lot of help to get out of poverty.
Then the situational poverty folks are the ones who have the basic life skills, it’s only that a situation has caused them to be in need at this point in their lives. For example, the plant they worked at closed, they are stricken with illness, even a divorce can cause someone to be in poverty. You get that situation resolved and they are back on their feet, they are back to being productive citizens. What we are seeing today is a huge increase in situational poverty.
Andy: Tell me a bit about the Food Bank. How did it start?
Peggy: The food bank started in 1981. It was started by an interesting group of people: the community action agency here in town, a social work class at social work class at Columbia College, and areas churches. The whole purpose of food banking is to keep good, edible food out of the landfill, and take it from the growers, producers, manufacturers, etc. and get it to the people who need it. We started in October of 1981 and distributed about 18,000 pounds of food. To use a business analogy, a food bank is like a wholesaler. We bring in food form all over the US, warehouse it in this building, and then redistribute it out to 145 relief agencies in 32 counties. That is our service area. The retailers in this equation are food pantries, shelters for the homeless and the abused, senior programs, rehab centers, etc. We are the only food bank in the state and only one of five in the country that gives our food away for free.
A: How did you get involved?
P: Before I came to the food bank I was a computer programmer and analyst at the University of Missouri – not even close to what I do now. Now, if you know anything about the University, where you work and where you park your car are never close together, and I had about a 2 block walk to get to my building. My path took me down alleys behind fraternity houses, where I would see homeless people in the dumpsters. I thought they were digging for cans to redeem for money to use it for whatever drunks and bums use money for. As I walked by I would pacify my conscience by saying “at least they are doing something for the environment.” One day I walked by the dumpster, being fairly nosy and being fairly self-righteous, and I saw a homeless guy eating the garbage in the dumpster, not getting the cans. I grew up in Columbia and that is the last thing in the world I expected to see. It absolutely horrified me, but not enough to change the way I went to work or to be determined to do something about it – it just horrified me. My very first thought was “it is the government’s job to do something about this. They need to be feeding these people,” or “It’s the city’s job. They shouldn’t let homeless people in the dumpsters.” It never occurred to me that as a Christian it was part of my responsibility. For seven and a half years I looked at that, I looked away, and I kept walking. One day walking by looking at the same sight I said probably the sorriest prayer anyone has ever said, “God, this is wrong. You need to do something about this or send somebody to do something about this.” I always tell people “be careful when you pray that prayer” because that somebody just might be you. The next thought that came into my mind was “What about you, Peggy, why don’t you do something. You’re somebody.” Two months later I was at the Food Bank.
I didn’t want to come here, but I have been here 16 years. People don’t expect you to preach the gospel by what you do every day in a secular organization – which is an unfortunate statement – but I have had more opportunities for that here than I ever would have had in a church.
(On the types of poverty in Columbia)
P: There’s really two types of poverty. There is generational poverty and there is situational poverty Generational poverty is the people for whom hunger is just symptom of the problem. They usually have been in poverty for 3 or 4 generations. They have educational issues. They have abuse issues. Usually bad parenting and role models. They don’t know how to handle their finances. It is just a lot of stuff and food is just one of their problems. They need a lot of help to get out of poverty.
Then the situational poverty folks are the ones who have the basic life skills, it’s only that a situation has caused them to be in need at this point in their lives. For example, the plant they worked at closed, they are stricken with illness, even a divorce can cause someone to be in poverty. You get that situation resolved and they are back on their feet, they are back to being productive citizens. What we are seeing today is a huge increase in situational poverty.
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