When a family loses a job, a senior can’t afford groceries, or a neighbor needs a place to sleep, most people don’t begin by looking for a government office or a nonprofit agency.
More often than not, they turn to a local church.
Across Stark County and throughout Northeast Ohio, churches quietly provide food, clothing, counseling, transportation, utility assistance, school supplies, and countless other forms of support. They visit people in hospitals, mentor children, comfort grieving families, and offer hope to those who feel forgotten. Most of this work happens without fanfare, headlines, or recognition. It simply happens because people see a need and respond.
Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate something that often goes unnoticed: churches are among the most effective community partners we have.
They know their neighborhoods. They know the families they serve. They know where the greatest needs exist because they encounter them every day.
The challenges facing our communities continue to grow. Families are wrestling with rising health care costs, higher grocery bills, housing affordability, and economic uncertainty. At the same time, many churches are being asked to do more with the same — or even fewer — resources.
Yet they continue showing up.
That should inspire all of us.
It should also challenge us to think differently about how we strengthen our communities. Rather than creating new organizations or duplicating services, perhaps one of the best investments we can make is helping existing ministries do even more of the work they already do so well.
The greatest strength of Stark County has never been any one institution. It has always been neighbors helping neighbors. For Christians, that calling is rooted in the biblical command to carry one another’s burdens, a mission churches have embraced for centuries.
No single organization can solve every problem facing our communities. Businesses cannot. Government cannot. Nonprofits cannot. Churches cannot.
But together, we can accomplish far more than any of us can alone.
For generations, churches throughout Stark County have quietly stepped forward whenever families have faced hardship. They cared for people long before anyone was watching, and they will continue long after the headlines have faded. That conviction is why Liberty HealthShare is expanding its Sharing Hearts Fund with a new initiative that provides grants to churches serving vulnerable populations in Stark County and the surrounding region.
If all of us, businesses, nonprofits, foundations, civic leaders, and congregations alike, can find more ways to support that work, our communities will be stronger because healthy communities are built when local institutions work together.
And that is something worth investing in.
The grants themselves are important, but the real investment is in the people and ministries already making a difference every day.
We want to encourage collaboration.
We want churches to connect with one another, learn from community organizations already serving these vulnerable populations, and discover new opportunities to multiply their impact. Every successful partnership strengthens the network of people working to care for our neighbors.
At Liberty HealthShare, we believe we’re called to be a force for good. For us, that isn’t a slogan. It’s a responsibility.
Being a force for good means recognizing that some of the most important work in our communities is already happening in church fellowship halls, food pantries, classrooms, shelters, and neighborhood outreach ministries. It means walking alongside those efforts, not replacing them, and ensuring churches can continue to be the first to respond when our neighbors need them most.
Dorsey Morrow is chief executive officer of Liberty HealthShare, a nonprofit healthcare sharing ministry headquartered in Jackson Township.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: When help is needed, churches are often first to step up | Opinion
Reporting by Dorsey Morrow, Special to the Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dorsey Morrow, Special to the Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
