Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

AME Opening Umbrella

Ministers with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church are working to open an umbrella.

This umbrella will provide a shelter, much like the ones used for protection from the rain.

Four ministers met at the Bethel Youth Center in Gurdon recently to discuss this.

The Rev. Bobby Marshall said plans are to open satellite centers in 10 counties, with Gurdon being the hub.

He said the center in Gurdon was begun to get a feel for what was needed. Now, after a year in the community, he said a narrative of the findings can be given, along with what the center has accomplished.

According to Marshall, one of the first things the AME church did was to start a food bank, which helped provide food to more than 3,000 needy families.

At this time, he said, the center is working to install a group home which would house 20-25 residents from the state. Should this happen, Marshall said, it will create 10-12 new jobs.

"The idea of AME," he said, "is to teach people to be self-supporting."

Marshall said the center currently has a learning resource lab with 14 computers, with 23 more computers expected.

The plan is to provide computers to each church under the umbrella, so they can develop learning resource labs as well and help their communities with tutorial and mentoring programs.

The other counties targeted include: Ashley, Columbia, Dallas, Union, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Nevada and Ouachita along with Garland.

"I've learned Gurdon is one of the richest communities in wanting to be helped and needing help," Marshall said. "Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith is a very supportive man who does what he can to help Gurdon, but he can't do it alone."

According to Marshall, the church should be involved in all aspects of its community. "For a long time, government didn't want a partnership with the church, and didn't know what to do with us. President (Bill) Clinton is setting a good pace, with Hillary saying it takes a village to raise a child."

The Rev. Randy Martin, economic director of St. James AME Church in Camden, called this umbrella "cutting edge" in development.

He said the AME church has a 200-year-old tradition in helping to reach all the needs of man, all human needs. The network, he continued, is already in place with the church.

AME churches were schools in addition to houses of worship when the church was first established, teaching fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Along with saving souls, he said (which is the church's primary goal), the AME church wants to service the needy in the community by teaching them how to fend for themselves.

Marshall said those involved with the network can't afford to be afraid of being attacked, or of their names. "We need to take a stand and work," he said.

The church's programs, he added, are not intended as an attack upon schools, but to help enhance what schools teach.

Charles Victorian called the umbrella system an basic organization which spreads where it's needed.

"We have soldiers here to help, not compete with others," he said. "We're trying to help solve problems. We want to help rescue children and keep them out of jail. The most important thing is to help underprivileged children be ready for the 21st century."

Martin concurred, adding dysfunctional children are the product of dysfunctional families. This, he said, doesn't necessarily mean poor people, though.

One of the biggest problems, he said, is many poor people can't help themselves because they don't know anything about entitlements they can get.

Martin said federal money is available to maintain public housing, but many don't know this.

Another problem is reaching parents who have low levels of functioning in society. With at-risk families, he said, help must begin with the children because they are the future.

"This is not predominantly a black thing," Marshall said, "but to help everyone. We need to break racial barriers."

He said there are a lot of black and white people who are hung up on skin color, which is hurting the children.

Rev. Ezelle Branch said his job was easy as the number cruncher. Branch will chart and assess the success of each program, working to help set up models that work.

By doing this, he can inform the board of where it is and where it may want to go, including any potential changes in direction.

"This project is godly mandated," Branch said. "We need to take responsibility. We want to get started on realistic assessments that can tell us where we are at any given time."

The important thing, he continued, will be to stay focused on what the goals and objectives are.

"We need to get the young people in touch with themselves. See where they want to go and how to do it. We need to mentor them, teach them to help others."