Profile: David Corner
David Corner founded The Gathering Project to bridge the gap between excess and need.
"We as Christians are compelled to understand love better than anyone else. We are compelled to be compassionate towards those around us."
David Corner is haunted by an image of women in Africa standing in a long line for hours at a time, day in and day out, to get a bucket of clean water so they can keep their families alive.
 “When I see those women in my dreams, and I still see them, standing there sleeping … how would I like to be standing there week after week after week holding onto my buddy’s shoulder waiting for a bucket of fresh water so I don’t die?” asks 73-year-old Corner, a member of Mason United Methodist Church, Tacoma, Wash. Corner founded The Gathering Project, an organization that ships containers filled with life-giving supplies to third world countries.
The Gathering Project sends donated goods anywhere in the world—school supplies, medical supplies and other equipment that lessens suffering in emerging countries. Corner says he has sent more than 150 containers to 46 countries and has also sent many containers to places in the United States.
The organization began 10 years ago after Corner saw first-hand that people in many parts of the world don’t have anything while people in the U.S. are stuffing landfills with waste. A trip to Ghana, Africa, opened his eyes when a doctor traveling with him was able to perform more than 200 cataract operations in about six weeks.
“People that had been blind for 10, 15 years with cataracts could see again,” he said. “You can’t sit in a room and see that happen and not know it was a miracle.”
He came back from that trip and started collecting “junk from my buddies’ garages. Christians are put on this earth to share,” he said.
“You can’t be a Christian unless you understand your fellow person, treat others with respect and dignity,” he said. “When we don’t do that we’re destroying ourselves, not somebody else.”
“I see the gathering project as an outreach of the Christian gospel, reaching out to do what it can do for those who really need the help. I mean they need it desperately. And I’ve seen how it’s changed their lives.”–David Corner
Corner grew up in The United Methodist Church, his grandfather was a Circuit Rider preacher and his aunt was a missionary in India for 37 years. He was a statewide youth officer for the church, attended two Methodist colleges, worked with The United Methodist Board of Discipleship and United Methodist Men.
“I’ve been in a constant tug of war with Jesus Christ my entire life,” he said. It is only though struggle and work that you can become a Christian he said.
“It is only through struggle, it is only through adversity. Just like if you want to keep yourself in good shape, you have to force and make those muscles a little painful and you have to do things with them, that’s the same thing as being a Christian, you have to be willing to do things to expand your knowledge of what Jesus was talking about.”
“I grew through the church. It was a way in which I began to discover myself. There were a lot of reasons why I had trouble discovering myself. One is I was in the middle of ten kids and I had bad eyes, so I couldn’t read. I was always basically overweight growing up and I had a lot of insecurity. A lot of people thought I couldn’t do anything.”
 The Gathering Project won the Nobel Peace Prize for the northwest and he was invited to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
Corner says he views The Gathering Project as an outreach of the Christian gospel.
“Do I want to go out in life with a big statue somewhere? No. I have no desire to do that. I still drive a car that’s been car-wrecked. I don’t need a fancy car. What I need to know is, that somebody somewhere in the world is gonna spend $3.50 to put an “O” ring back in that pump so those women don’t have to stand in line.”
If you would like to donate to The Gathering Project, contact David Corner at 253-970-8297.
The following people contributed to this Profile:
Audio story by Mike Hickcox; print story by Kathy Gilbert; videography by Kim and Tim Griffis, Northwest Video Edge.
UMC.org Profiles are produced by Pam Price, 615-742-5405.
David's Spiritual Gifts
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Compassion
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Healing
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Exhortation
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Servanthood
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Wisdom
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Shepherding
Learn more about your spiritual gifts
David's Recommended Resource
The Gathering Project
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