Loving the 35226
Bluff Park United Methodist Church for many years has sent people on international mission trips and hurricane and tornado relief efforts.
The church has worked on Habitat for Humanity projects in Birmingham and regularly sends teams to feed the homeless in downtown Birmingham.
But for over a year, church members have made a more concerted effort to figure out ways to be a blessing to their more immediate community, senior pastor Mike Holly said.
The church has a food pantry that each month serves about 260 households that need assistance, but only about 13 of those households are in the same zip code — 35226 — as the church, Holly said.
The church wants to do more to minister to needs in their own backyard, he said.
“We should do something to make Bluff Park a better place,” Holly said.
So the church in October launched a new ministry and website where people in the 35226 zip code can go to get help or to give help to others in their community. It’s called Loving the 35226.
People who need help or want to help others nearby can go to lovingthe35226.com and hopefully find what they need, Holly said.
One of the more practical ministries mentioned there are the “35226 rooms” that the church has partnered with nearby schools to establish in their buildings this past school year.
The church has stocked the rooms with school supplies, clothing, toiletries and food for times when teachers, counselors or other faculty spot students who are in need, such as a student wearing the same clothes all the time or carrying a moldy backpack.
Bart Styes, the director of student ministries at Bluff Park United Methodist, said church members have long been involved in helping students and their families on an as-needed basis. But several church members felt a calling to be more proactive, he said.
At the same time, Simmons Middle School had been assisting struggling families each winter holiday season and this past year decided to provide help on a more routine basis, Principal Brian Cain said.
Ben Cathers, a student leader in the Bluff Park United Methodist church youth group last year who now is a freshman at Auburn University, worked with Simmons Middle School Assistant Principal Kevin Erwin to set up a room at the school where they could stock items and already have them ready for students as needs arise so there would be no delay in meeting the need, Styes said.
The church got a $2,000 grant from a nonprofit called Beav’s Place, and the youth went shopping to buy the supplies, clothing and food items to get the room started this past summer, Styes said. Similar rooms were set up at Bluff Park and Gwin elementary schools, he said.
The church now routinely collects donations, and the students sort and label the items before taking them to the schools, he said. Several school staff and students have donated time and resources, too, Cain said.
The church wants to set up similar rooms at Shades Mountain and Green Valley elementary schools and is trying to find coordinators for each school, he said.
Cathers said he got involved because he’s a big believer in service to God and it’s just not acceptable for kids to not have a winter coat to stay warm.
The Loving the 35226 ministry also includes the church food pantry, an outreach ministry to military veterans and links to counseling services. The website also provides a place where people can write down prayer requests. The church gets two to three prayer requests through the website each week, Holly said.