WWJD?

Friday held one of my worst moments as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member to date. But I'll get to that in a second.

We left Shared Harvest mid- Friday morning to visit some potential OBB sites in Warren County, primarily in the Franklin area, with a short excursion to Carlisle for flavor. The day started off like any other--we hopped in the car, programmed the GPS, and made our way from site to site, with OBB fliers in hand. Just before lunch, we found the Deardoff Senior Center. They had some OBB literature in their lobby already, but we had no record of them as a site, so we decided to press on. The director (and only paid staff person) seemed busy but took the time to talk with us about bringing the OBB to the center. She was so into the idea, that she couldn't help giving us a small tour of the facility, as well! Her enthusiasm was so encouraging, and we look forward to working with them as a new OBB site.

Many of the sites we scout out are either closed at the time of the visit, or the main decision maker is not in. We have "sorry we missed you" letters for these places, and while we hope not to have to leave them, we found it is sometimes better than speaking with a decision-maker. Case in point: Hillcrest Baptist Church in Carlisle. It was the last stop of the day, and we were coming off of some great visits with potential sites in Franklin. We walked into the church to find the entire entry-way and downstairs office dark. We heard some noise upstairs, though, so we decided to check it out. Sure enough, we had stumbled upon the pastor's office. The contact person with their food pantry was not in, so the pastor invited us in to talk about the OBB with him personally. It was a pleasant enough gesture--but things quickly went downhill from there.

Turns out that this church used to be a partner with Shared Harvest. Used to be. They chose to stop receiving food when they were told they couldn't proselytize and distribute USDA government food products. Giving food was apparently not enough to show God's love--they had to be able to tell people about it too. So the pastor shut down the entire operation, claiming that if they couldn't give food his way they wouldn't give food at all. The pastor was still angry about this, and that's how the visit started. We told them about how the OBB wasn't directly connected with food distribution, but the point just never sunk in. The pastor and his secretary spent a majority of the visit complaining about how people in poverty use and abuse the system. They used two examples to pass judgment on all poor people, and to rationalize why they didn't have to help. The pastor and his secretary were so cynical and stubborn, that they wouldn't listen to what the OBB was even about--we could tell they were just trying to think of their next 'zinger.' The topic of conversation quickly shifted from the OBB to philosophies of life in poverty in general. Even if this church would not be an OBB site, I felt an obligation to the families of Carlisle to at least try to change this man's attitude toward people in need.

About 40 minutes in, though, I realized he was a lost cause. The pastor had become so combative that he mocked Alex and me, rolling his eyes and laughing in our faces. At that point, we started gathering our materials to leave. The pastor abruptly grabbed some fliers out of my hand as if to indicate sudden interest in the program. We stood up, respectfully told them that we would not be working with them in the future, and turned to leave. With a smirk, the secretary said they were just having a "bad day." Which is, of course, a perfect excuse to ruin our day.

I really wouldn't have had a problem with the pastor just saying, "We're not interested in becoming a site. Thanks for stopping by." But the pastor needed to hold his power over us, just like he does with the people who come to him for help. So he invited us in to bash all people in poverty and to insult the ones who are trying to do something to help. It is clear that this man is just a wolf in sheep's clothing. He claims to love and help all people unconditionally, but the message is lost among the hundreds of strings and judgments attached to his services. Just another example of the type of person I don't want to be.