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Virginia churches serve ?secondary victims’
Sept. 13, 2006
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (UMNS) — Andy Powell, David Miller and Frank Baker take
brown paper bags full of fresh produce and canned goods out to waiting vans.
Marionette Changes keeps a careful eye on the men to make sure the right bags
get in the right vans.
“We got some fresh produce from the market,” she says, obviously
pleased with today’s offering. “One of our ladies loves asparagus.”
Changes and the others are members or regular attendees of Rising Hope United
Methodist Mission Church, a church whose membership consists mostly of the
poor and homeless along Washington’s Route One Corridor.
On this day, the church is delivering food to the elderly and handicapped
in the community.
Secondary victims
Rising Hope was one of the recipients of United
Methodist Committee on Relief’s “Love
in the Midst of Tragedy” grants given after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centers.
Powell, Miller and Baker are some of the “secondary victims” of
Sept. 11 helped by the grant money.
The Rev. Keary Kincannon, pastor of Rising Hope, explains that some of the
hidden victims of the tragedy live in the corridor just south of Washington.
They are minimum-wage earners who cleaned motel rooms, served food in the restaurants,
worked in shops catering to tourists at Mount Vernon and other attractions,
or drove taxis to nearby Reagan National Airport.
After the attacks, the tourist trade dropped dramatically, taking jobs with
it.
Rising Hope Church was established in 1996 to
bring “spiritual and material
relief” to people who live in the area. About 60 percent of its members
are homeless or have been homeless at some point.
“Many of our members live in the woods, their cars or in shelters,” says
Laura Derby, church administrator and grant writer. Rising Hope has many members
who suffer from mental health problems or addiction. Derby says they were thrown
into an emotional tailspin by the terrorist attacks.
One example is “Evelyn,” a single
mother with one child who has suffered from mental health issues much of
her life. In
2001, she was struggling
to hold a job. She went into a depression after the attacks and was hospitalized
for severe clinical depression and suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized
three times during the 18 months after Sept. 11 and was diagnosed with bipolar
disorder.
Rising Hope was able to give her support and find employment again. The church
provided clothes for her and her child and assisted with bills for prescriptions,
utilities and food, Derby says.
According to Kincannon, the UMCOR grant “helped us rise to another level” of
serving the community.
Help for immigrants
The first years after Sept. 11 were especially
tough for the immigrant population, says the Rev. Herb Brynildson, pastor
of St. Matthew’s
United Methodist Church, Annandale, Va.
“People were weary of immigrants regardless of who they were,” he
recalls.
State and local governments cracked down on the services they would provide
to people without proper identification. That action affected immigrants, the
poor and the homeless.
Brynildson helped write the proposal from the
United Methodist Virginia Annual (regional) Conference to receive “Love in the Midst of Tragedy” monies.
Virginia United Methodists then disbursed nearly $1 million to six organizations,
including Rising Hope.
The largest amount went to Grace Ministries, a community outreach program
to the Hispanic community. The ministries provide food and clothing, rent assistance,
job training and retraining, worship in Spanish and pastoral counseling.
Brynildson says Grace Ministries was able to expand
its outreach into two new locations and now serves four areas with ministry,
worship opportunities
and legal services. “Legal status is not important to who we serve and
how we serve,” he notes.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
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