KEEP UP THE GOOD WORKS
OKC-area houses of worship continue to aid their communities amid the pandemic and in the aftermath of the ice storm
Oklahoma City metro area houses of worship continue to aid their communities through food distributions and other support as residents face challenges from the pandemic and recent ice storm.
As the COVID- 19 pandemic rages on, houses of worship continue to offer aid to their surrounding communities. Two churches, Ebenezer Baptist and Southern Hills Baptists, are on opposite sides of the Oklahoma City metro, each doing their part to make sure residents have ample food and other help.
Ebenezer Baptist, led by the Rev. Derrick Scobey, partnered with World Vision in the spring. Through the humanitarian aid organization, the church held weekly food distribution events in the spring and throughout the summer months.
Recently, several leaders with World Vision visited Oklahoma City to learn more about the northeast Oklahoma
City church and its commitment to helping not just surrounding neighborhoods but people living in Oklahoma's Black towns. Over the summer, Scobey regularly rented trucks to take food boxes to Langston, Boley, Clearview, Tatums, Taft and other Black towns.
Reed Slattery, World Vision national director, said he and several of his team members, including World Vision Project Manager Brian Chiu, traveled from Texas to visit Scobey and find out more about his congregation and community. During their visit, Scobey took the World Vision team on a tour of the Black towns that received the food boxes. The group also participated in a food distribution at Ebenezer, 3600 N Kelley.
“This has been an amazing visit. I connected with Pastor Scobey several months back when we started this program and he's been telling us about all the work they've been doing, explaining the food deserts,” Slattery said. “But you don't totally get it even though he tags you in a Facebook video — there's something different about being here, talking to people, hearing firsthand and seeing the communities, seeing the need. So it's just a big honor for World Vision to be here.”
Slattery said World Vision leaders knew there would be a huge need for food when the pandemic took shape, particularly among students who counted on nutritious meals from their schools. With schools shut down during the spring and summer, World Vision launched a program and began putting together food kits of shelf stable food to give to families.
He said a few months later, the USDA put together a program called Farmers to Families so that farmers who typically supplied restaurants and hotels could get food to the most vulnerable people across the country after the restaurants and hotel temporarily closed. Slattery said World Vision began partnering with the USDA to help and expanded its network through partners like Ebenezer Baptist.
He said cars lined up to receive a truckload of about 1,000 fresh food boxes during his recent visit to the northeast Oklahoma City church.
“They've got fresh produce, five pounds of cooked meat plus dairy, like milk, yogurt, cheese, sour cream, so really a family could take that home and make a complete meal. We really feel like this is just the beginning of partnership with Pastor Scobey and the community here,” Slattery said. “We're really looking forward to going deeper into the community here, understanding the need, understanding how we can come alongside groups that are already serving and build something sustainable for years
to come.”
Scobey said he anticipated more collaborative efforts with World Vision and he was grateful that many Oklahoma and Oklahoma City elected leaders and other dignitaries taped greetings for the World Vision team to see once they arrived in Oklahoma City.
On Wednesday, the church partnered again with the organization, this time to distribute household products and furnishings.
`Chance to help our community'
At Southern Hills Baptist, 8601 S Pennsylvania, leaders held a trio of special food distribution events, in addition to the church's weekly food pantry aid.
Randy Whittall, the church's mission and evangelism pastor, said the church coordinated three different food giveaway events from September through Nov. 3, in partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board and the USDA's Farmer's to Families program. Whittall said Farmers to Families provided the groceries and the North American Mission Board coordinated church's distribution efforts.
He said the first distribution was all produce, while subsequent giveaways included produce, meat and dairy. Whittall estimated that about 800 families, representing 3,000 individuals, were provided food through each event.
The food giveaways were coordinated by Jeremy Johnson, the church's community ministry leader, under the leadership of the
Rev. Doug Melton, Southern Hills' senior pastor, Whittall said.
“It was a wonderful event. We got a chance to help our community and bless people. We got to pray with every individual,” he said.
Whittall said church leaders were also thrilled that the food distribution events gave the church more opportunities to get coats to children and youth who needed them. He said the church conducted a coat drive for students attending eight public grade schools the church partners with.
“One of our principals said something to us about the number of children who come to the school without something warm to wear,” Whittall said.
The church collected about 200 coats and volunteers at the food giveaway events were able to identify children in need of the warm apparel and get it to their families.