COMMUNITY SERVICE
by
Maryann Miller

 

Allen Snider has been pastor of First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro for a little over two years and he says that Winnsboro is better at community service than any other place he's lived. "And it's not just the churches," he said. "The civic organizations and the businesses pull together to get things done to benefit the whole city."

Banking on that sense of community spirit, Pastor Snider recently held a meeting to establish Winnsboro Community Service Days. Patterned after Great Days of Service in Sherman, Texas where Snider was a pastor previous to his assignment in Winnsboro, Winnsboro Community Service Days will be a cooperative effort among churches, businesses, service organizations and community volunteers.

The Sherman organization holds its service days in June from a Thursday to a Saturday and pick several projects to accomplish in that three-day period. That might include home improvements, health care, children's activities, nursing home visitation, feeding the hungry, and prison ministry. For more information about this program which has been operating for about ten years visit their Web site

"The Sherman program is large and serves a large community," Snider said. "We will obviously start on a smaller scale, but we can still do a lot of good."

Pastor Snider was very involved with Great Days of Service from its inception and said it is one of the best ways for a community to care for the people in the most need. "That's part of what we are called to do as members of churches and service organizations."

About twelve people showed up for the meeting on Thursday, Feb 22, and Pastor Snider said that was okay. "Jesus did some amazing things with twelve people."

He went on to explain that the meeting that night was a planning session to see if this kind of service project is something the people in Winnsboro want to do. He also said that he has already talked to other church leaders and members of civic organizations who were not able to make the meeting, and all expressed support for the idea.

After some discussion about how to proceed, it was decided that the initial effort in Winnsboro should be a Day of Service to launch the program and determine community interest and support. Then plan for a two or three day event the following year.

Since this is still so early in the planning stages no dates have been set, but we will be informed as details firm up and will report them.