She Sparks: Fellow Alison Lee Reflects on Her Time with JKHF and Merritt’s Chapel United Methodist Church

Jamie Kirk Hahn
Aug 22, 2017 · 3 min read
Photo by Jacob McCalip

How can a small rural church surrounded by wealthy neighborhoods make a difference in their community?

This was the ongoing question that my my nonprofit partner, Merritt’s Chapel United Methodist Church, had throughout my time as a Jamie Kirk Hahn Fellow.

This summer, I worked with Merritt’s Chapel to help them understand what community engagement looks like for the increasing food security in the area. After identifying the demographics within a 15 minute drive radius, we concluded that the area surrounding the church was actually quite wealthy with a low poverty rate. With this information we pondered what we could do if food insecurity doesn’t seem like a big problem in the church’s community.

Oftentimes, when we consider projects for community development, we look at places with clear signs of poverty: convenience stores and fast food joints line the street corners, crime and drug usage rates are high, and kids drop out of school at alarming rates. Through foundational work and philanthropic giving, we, as a society, focus our efforts on alleviating the burden of these communities. I often find myself thinking about where I can make the most impact with the work I do. But maybe, I’ve been thinking about it the wrong way all along.

For nonprofits that have to answer to a board and funders, perhaps that is the case. To elicit the highest impact possible requires working in the highest need areas to maximize the return on investment. But, the same logic should not apply to churches. Churches don’t face the same standards and obligations that grant-funded or government-funded organizations are required to uphold. Most churches, especially in rural areas, already serve as a gathering site for many members of the community.

Simply because a low poverty rate doesn’t necessitate a red flag for the area, it doesn’t mean that those people aren’t also in need. When we rush out to pour resources, volunteers, and programs into strengthening the communities that draw people’s attention, we inadvertently neglect those other low income communities sandwiched between high-income neighborhoods. These areas could benefit from the same types of conversations surrounding community economic development and creation of programs such as bringing fresh foods in and increasing access to education, initiatives that can revitalize the neighborhoods.

Rural churches offer the unique opportunity to fill that gap. Churches have the advantage of being rooted in a community, tied to the people and the history of a place. This connection, along with the space and people, allows community development efforts to move directly into conversations that get to the root of understanding what the community needs are and implementing projects rather than getting caught up in months of logistical challenges.

I recently watched a TEDTalk given by Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank Group, titled “Doesn’t everyone deserve a chance at a good life?” While he talks about development from an international perspective, I think his message still applies to us here in the United States. What really strikes me in his question is the word ‘everyone’; doesn’t everyone deserve a chance? I believe so. We’re all born into the same world, where there are injustices and inequality. But we, as humans, created those injustices at some point in the past (no, they really weren’t just already there), so it falls back to us to undo and fix those injustices today. For me, everyone literally means everyone — as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” so we haven’t fixed the problem until we fix it for every last person there is.

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Inspired by the legacy of Jamie Kirk Hahn, we empower emerging leaders to spark change in their community and state. www.jamiekirkhahnfoundation.org

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