Warm coats; warm hearts
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 9, 2014 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Scottie Percise, right, helps Fletcher Raynor look through clothing Saturday at the Warm the World clothing giveaway at the First Baptist Church in Goldsboro. The church started the program five years ago.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Doug Brown was among the many members of Goldsboro First Baptist Church who helped during Saturday's Warm the World clothing giveaway.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
A line gathers in front of the First Baptist Church in Mount Olive Saturday morning for the church's second annual Warm Mount Olive clothing giveaway. More than 200 people received winter coats, scarves, gloves, hats and blankets.
Organizers of Saturday's Warm the World clothing giveaway might not have achieved the name of their event's lofty goal, but because of the First Baptist churches in Goldsboro and Mount Olive, more than 600 needy people now have the coats, blankets and other warm clothing they need.
It is an outreach mission that officials at both churches want to see spread across the county.
Linda Hines was the first in line at First Baptist Church in Goldsboro -- a line of an estimated 400 people that stretched from the steps of the fellowship hall, across the front of the building and then back along Chestnut Street.
"I didn't go to bed," she said. "I worked a 12-hour shift so I was already awake, so I didn't go to sleep. It wasn't chilly; it was cold. We stayed in the car where it was warm."
The church doors opened at 8 a.m., but even as late as 9 a.m. the line still stretched across the front lot at the fellowship hall.
Church members and volunteers greeted the people at several locations and said goodbye as they left with a bag of food.
"Last year we had 150 bags, and it wasn't enough," said Sherry Archibald, women's missionary union director at the church. "We did 200 bags this year. Each will go to a family, not an individual. It has a lot of the pop-top type things and different food items we have tried to stuff in."
The first stop was a large room where a breakfast of grits, egg casserole, fruit, coffee, water and juice was served to nearly 200 people at a time. Children were given a toy, and adults received a Bible and other church-related materials.
After eating, they were taken in smaller groups to the church gym to make their selection of clothing and blankets.
"It is a great thing that they are doing, helping folks out with clothes and things," said Shawn Locus as she stood in line with her two young sons, Jaiden and Jaimere. "I think other churches should do the same thing. It is a great service to the community."
Mrs. Archibald said she was not surprised by the turnout.
"After visiting with folks, we have a lot of community support this year in many ways and partnering in helping us to promote (the giveaway) where there is need," she said. "We have been able to share information with the Housing Authority, through the Soup Kitchen, of course, and through Fordham House and the Latino segment of the community, just to get the word out."
Wayne County Public Schools helped as well to ensure that families in need were notified, she said. There also was publicity in the newspaper, she added.
"We are partnering with Mount Olive (First Baptist) today," Mrs. Archibald said. "Even though they are doing their own thing, and their own collecting, it has just been wonderful to be able to share in preparing for it. Most of the clothing was donated. Most is gently used, but we have also been very fortunate and blessed that many community and church members have donated to this cause so we have been able to go out and buy a lot of new things.
"We have bought a lot of new sleeping bags and new blankets, like from Army surplus so we can get some really heavy-duty blankets for folks. Coats, we have been able to go out and buy an abundance of coats because we knew that the need was strong, and we have just been blessed with donations."
Members of the Eastern Wayne High School Key Club were helping as well.
The Rev. Dr. Dennis Atwood, pastor at First Baptist Church in Mount Olive, said he was expecting at least 200 people.
"(Goldsboro) started theirs a few years, and we did this last year and had more than 100 people," Atwood said. "I heard about their Warm the World and brought it to our mission engagement team and said, 'Hey, why don't we do this, and let's call it Warm Mount Olive since it is a local thing for us.' We just started collecting coats last year and pulled it together."
Scottie Percise, a member of the Goldsboro church, said the idea for the project came from traveling back and forth to church and riding through a neighborhood where it was obvious people were in need.
"So we started thinking about what could we do to help," she said. "We wanted to do something, so we decided to collect coats and blankets. There are a lot of homeless in the area here. So we did that the first year and we had probably three or four little tables full of things. We only had about 10 people show up the first year. We actually would go out and bring people in.
"But God multiplied it greatly, and we have just been blessed by doing it."
Mrs. Archibald said she has heard Mrs. Percise talk about a vision of expanding the project throughout the entire county.
Atwood said he, too, would like to see the program expand.
"If we could just have a Warm the World Day in the whole county, and have different churches that would host it in that area, that would reach just lots of folks because there are a lot of people far out who can't get to downtown," Mrs. Percise said. "That is definitely our goal. If it is God's goal, then that is what will happen."