By Felicia A. Petro
Allied News Staff Writer
Compassion is the word on the street in Olde Town Grove City.
Solid Rock Assembly of God, a storefront church on South Broad Street, is kicking off a “compassion ministry,” said Pastor Scott Benka.
The ministry is among a growing list of local churches that have been reaching out to people in need.
Solid Rock will kick off its compassion ministry from 8 a.m. to noon Aug. 22.
“We’re giving out free food, clothing and school supplies (for back-to-school),” he said. The church will also have a free luncheon.
“We have lots of stuff to give away for all ages and sizes.”
However, the ministry won’t end there.
“It’s going to be available to people if they need it anytime; probably the third Saturday of the month we’ll have food and clothing giveaways,” Benka said.
Clothing donations range from new to “slightly used,” he noted.
The program will not involve an income requirement.
“Our target area is going toward people who make too much that they can’t get help from food banks, but still have a need. You may have just lost your job or you’re having a hard time,” Benka said.
“We want to meet a need that’s maybe being missed.”
However, the program is “open to anybody,” Benka added. “We don’t want to be in competition with (other ministries), we just want to meet a need.”
The compassion ministry has been something Benka has wanted to do for some time, “but it’s taken time to resurrect,” he noted.
“I was sharing my heart with a couple of people, and one family donated six bags of clothes. Then we let the church people know and they started donating clothes.”
From there, the word got out on the street about what Solid Rock was doing.
More donations came in from the community and Grove City Area United Way, and the compassion ministry was born.
Benka wants the ministry to expand in the future “to help with other needs,” he said.
For instance, Benka was thinking of beginning a drug and alcohol ministry.
However, he received an announcement about East Main Presbyterian Church beginning that type of ministry in the borough.
“So, I thought, ‘OK, that need is met,’” Benka said.
East Main; First Church of God, Pine Township; and Forestville United Methodist Church also have $1 dinner outreaches. Grace United Methodist Church has Grove City Community Food Pantry to serve people with low incomes.
Benka sees these outreaches among all the churches as a resource, “Where everybody is meeting the needs of the community,” he said.
Adding the compassion ministry in the mix is “a perfect time, in a sense, because of the economic crisis. There’s more people in need,” Benka said.
“We had to start somewhere. We just wanted to touch the lives of people in the community.”
Published Aug. 1, 2009. To pick up a copy of this article, stop in at Allied News, 201A Erie St., Grove City. For more information about the compassion ministry, call 724-458-1520. Money and in-kind donations are tax-deductible.
