Missionaries to Arkansas
03-05-2010Heather Hahn
Editor
MARIANNA — As this sleepy Delta town pinkens in dawn’s glow, dozens of people start gathering outside the old railway station.
A cold, biting wind nibbles at their faces. But the crowd is in a festive mood.
The people share town news, cheerfully complain about the weather and pat their sides to keep up their blood circulation. Each of them carries a cardboard box.
Shortly before 9 a.m., a woman opens the train station’s main entrance and begins handing out numbered cards to those waiting outside. Delta Dream Ministries is now open and late February’s food distribution is about to start.
Since June 2004, this United Methodist ministry located in Marianna’s old train depot has been providing groceries for residents in this economically depressed region.
In addition to those who line up early in the morning for a box of food staples, the ministry also provides groceries at least once a month for members of a local senior center, patients at a mental-health facility and clients of a substance-abuse treatment center.
Delta Dream Ministries also supplies backpacks full of nourishment each week for 180 area elementary- and middle-school students. The Arkansas Food Bank Network furnishes most of the ministry’s food supply.
Evelyn Banks-Shackelford, who oversees the feeding ministry, says the effort began because she and others saw a need.
“For us, it was a ministry we couldn’t say no to,” she said. “It’s the most visible thing we do.”
People don’t need to get in line at sunup to receive food, Banks-Shackelford said. But over the years, the early-morning wait has become a time of fellowship among the town residents — something they don’t want to miss.
“I think they love the thrill of seeing who gets here first and socializing with each other,” Banks-Shackelford said.
The massive food program is one of the state’s most prominent examples of the United Methodist Church’s Church and Community Ministry.
Banks-Shackelford is one of three Church and Community Workers who minister to needs in Arkansas. The other two are Allyne Solomon, who serves the state’s Lower Delta, and Steve Copley, who works with the state’s immigrant population.
These three workers are commissioned missionaries of the General Board of Global Ministries. In response to God’s call, these workers have committed to uplifting the poor and empowering the disenfranchised in society. They are part of Methodist missionary tradition that dates back125 years.
In 1885, women in the Methodist Episcopal Church saw a need to provide aid to women in mining and rural areas. Those who took up the vocation were initially called Rural Workers and then Town and Country Workers before taking up their current designation.
At present, 48 Church and Community Workers serve in both rural and urban settings across the United States. They come from a variety of backgrounds, and include clergy, nurses, social workers, lawyers and teachers.
“On a larger scale”
Banks-Shackelford had been an active lay member of Scruggs Chapel United Methodist Church in Moro when she learned that the area’s Church and Community Worker was retiring. She decided it was a ministry she’d like to do.
“We had a low membership in the church, so I was one of those people who did a little bit of everything — the youth, the choir, whatever needed to be done,” Banks-Shackelford said. “I thought this would allow me to work on a larger scale.”
She has now been a Church and Community Worker for more than 20 years. Initially, she worked with predominantly black churches in the Delta, helping to organize Vacation Bible Schools, confirmation classes and other activities intended to draw community involvement. She took on the food ministry after members of First UMC in Marianna withdrew from plans to organize a similar ministry at the train station.
Delta Dream Ministries typically has two distribution days a month. Around the start of the month, the ministry disburses commodities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These recipients must meet certain income requirements.
The month’s second distribution day is open to just about anyone. Banks-Shackelford only requires that recipients bring their own cardboard boxes to help replenish the ministry’s supplies. For the ministry’s record keeping, recipients also must sign in and list the number and ages of people in their household who will be served.
The distribution day on Feb. 24 was an example of this more open giveaway. On this day, Banks-Shackelford has more than a dozen volunteers and part-time workers helping her.
Refrigerators, freezers and pantries take up most of the train depot’s space. The station’s small sitting area is pretty much the only place where there’s room to give out food.
Volunteer Carrie Miller calls out the numbers of those waiting in line outside five or six at a time. The recipients each step inside, sign in at a table manned by volunteers, hand over their cardboard box and in its place, get another box full nonperishable goods.
As the recipients make their way toward the train depot’s exit, volunteers top off each of their boxes with a container of frozen meat, a pint of milk, a carton of eggs, a box containing king cake and a bag of carrots.
By 10 a.m., the volunteers have given groceries to more than 100 people.
“This helps me keep my grocery bills down,” Haywood Jones, a retired farmer, said. “I’m on a fixed income and any little bit helps.”
Navigating the system
Most of what Allyne Solomon does as a Church and Community Worker is more behind the scenes.
When a family in the lower Delta loses a job or suffers another emergency, Solomon helps the family navigate the system and connect with the federal, state and church support that’s available. Likewise, Solomon helps local churches discover the funding opportunities that they can access.
David Moore, senior pastor of First UMC in Hamburg, said Solomon has helped the church’s after-school program, The Pioneer Club, obtain grants for a van and educational materials.
“She’s helped take the edge off the financial responsibilities of the church,” Moore said.
While her office is at First UMC in Hamburg, Solomon serves as a resource not just for area local churches but also the Southeast District and the Arkansas Conference.
When she first arrived in Hamburg, she put together a resource book for area churches of state agencies and nonprofit groups.
She often gets calls when people need help connecting with the church. Last November, a nearby school contacted her requesting help in restocking its coat closet. She led a drive that ended up collecting more than 200 coats.
At present, she is partnering with HIPPY (a national organization, which stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) to provide healthy snacks for the 90 youngsters the program serves each week in Ashley County.
A longtime Christian educator before becoming a Church and Community Worker in September 2007, Solomon sees the two callings as not that dissimilar. In both roles, she sees herself as helping to share the love of Christ.
“One of the greatest things about being a Church and Community Worker is that you take the church out to people in the community,” Solomon says, “and you bring the community back into the church.”
To support Arkansas Church and Community Workers, visit secure.gbgm-umc.org/donations. Evelyn Banks-Shackelford’s missionary support code is 982939. Allyne Solomon’s support code is 982021. To learn more about Church and Community Workers, visit www.arumc.org/church_community_workers.php.
