Faith Works 9-2-17

Faith Works 9-2-17

Jeff Gill

 

Helping out and looking within

___

 

Many years ago, when I was serving as pastor in a place with many and serious economic ills, our community was offered aid.

 

When you don't have much, you don't turn down anything, right? An offer is an offer, so the word came that a semi-trailer would arrive on a certain day and we would have a crew ready to unload, at an address where some short-term storage could be done securely.

 

On the hour expected, the truck showed up. From the start, the whole operation felt very different than any of us had expected. The driver was hired, fair enough, but he made it clear he expected to be on the road again in no less than two hours, and he was going to get lunch and we were on our own. He unlocked the back doors and was quickly off down the street.

 

Standing at the back of the semi was a scratch crew, mostly made up of ministers, it being a weekday. And a few well-intended retirees. Inside, with almost four feet to clamber up to reach the trailer's floor, was . . . stuff.

 

We'd been asked if we needed . . . I'll just say "certain items." Those sounded helpful to our work in that town, and we said yes. The "helpful" person on the other end said "we'll throw in some other similar items which might be similarly useful."

 

"Throw" was the operative word. And it was quickly clear to us that someone with a business that shall not be named had set a crew to work throwing the contents of a warehouse of "stuff" into this truck. Imagine a semi-trailer filled to three or four feet in height with drifts of loose items.

 

And I'll be blunt. Most of it was trash. Returns, remainders, extras, probably a fair mix of flawed or rejected items. The "certain items" we'd said yes to? They were all the way in the back, and I kid you not there were three sad boxes of that stuff . . . and a truckload of all the rest.

 

Those "free gifts" ended up costing our community churches a few hundred in dumpster fees, while a company got a tax write-off under false pretenses. We could have raised heck somehow, I realize in retrospect, but we had neither the time nor the energy, so we sifted out what we could use for our kids programs and sent the rest to a landfill, where it was doubtless destined, but now at our charitable group's cost.

 

I tell this story now not to settle scores (or you'd be reading some names here!) but to explain why charitable groups and churches alike ask those who want to help with Hurricane Harvey or similar disasters to send MONEY. Contributions. Cash.

 

Yes, in-kind donations can be critical. And they will, in certain situations, have their place. Some groups are very skilled at obtaining and sifting and shifting those sorts of items, and if you hear about an effort, God bless them.

 

But there is no one who has done much work with non-profit and faith-based and disaster relief efforts who doesn't have a story about helping unload a truckload of winter parkas after a Florida hurricane, or having to trash a ton of canned goods with bulging lids. Both poorly considered good intentions, and flat-out venality . . . we can say "sin" here, can't we? . . . mean that getting big piles of help often means heaps and heaps of trouble, and time spent taking out someone else's trash when you're there to help people in need.

 

Your faith community doubtless has a relief arm. My own denomination's "Week of Compassion" does great work, "One Great Hour of Sharing" is used by a number of churches, while Church World Service is an ecumenical relief agency with a great track record. United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR is excellent; I and communities I've been a part of have seen how effective the Salvation Army, LDS Charities, and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) are for everyone involved. Parachurch groups like Samaritan's Purse and Habitat for Humanity are great partners as well, and of course the American Red Cross is always there first and usually last. They're all online, and all worthy recipients of your gifts.

 

John Wesley is known for his aphorism "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can." Give where you will, and give what and as much as you can, and remember that your monetary contributions are almost always the fastest and most effective way to get help to those who need hope.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him about where and how you like to help others at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.