Chrisman Nazarene Church heads drive
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
Pastor Cory Swinderman
The tornados on December 7th ravished the Midwest, but most of the damage occurred in Southern Illinois and Kentucky. A total of seventy-seven lives were lost in Mayfield, Kentucky. Donations have been received from all around the states to show their support.
On Tuesday, December 14th, Chrisman Church of the Nazarene Pastor Cory Swinderman received an email from Pastor Terry Armstrong detailing the needs of the Mayfield Church of the Nazarene.
“The church became a storm shelter on the night of the storm and has since become a Red Cross shelter for the town’s residents,” Pastor Swinderman said. Much of Mayfield was destroyed during the storm, but this church received minimal damage.
After receiving word that the Casey, Illinois Church of the Nazarene would be taking a trailer to Mayfield, Swinderman stepped into action. “I figured out that we would need to get things to Casey by Thursday, so we would need to drive on Wednesday,” Swinderman said. “I sent information to our church board, the other area churches, and posted information on Facebook and at area businesses.”
The Chrisman Church of the Nazarene held their drive on December 15th in the Nazarene parking lot from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Items on the list included generators, flashlights, bread, pudding cups, applesauce cups, kool-aid, towels, toothpaste, water, extension cords, batteries, multi packs of chips, fruit cups, breakfast bars, lemonade mix, wipes, toothbrushes, lotions, gas cans, snack food, pop tarts, jello cups, sugar, hand soap, toilet paper, deodorant and shampoo.
The Nazarene churches in Casey, Carbondale, Anna, Belleville, Bethel and Georgetown, along with Chrisman took supplies or planned to take supplies in the coming days. “Other Nazarene Churches were encouraged to get supplies to one of those locations for delivery,” Cory said.
Just half an hour into the donation collections, the Chrisman Church of the Nazarene bus was already halfway full. Once the collection concluded, it was eighty five percent full.
“We had only a couple of empty seats in the whole bus. I was shocked with how much we took to Casey,” Swinderman said. “I have lived in Chrisman for nine and a half years and I have always known its residents to be generous and ready to help when a need arises.”
Even though the Nazarene Church held the drive, every one of the area churches were generous and supportive. “Chrisman is an uncommon town that way.
Our churches work together, pray for one another and genuinely care about one another.”
The next morning, Swinderman, along with his son Carter, took the trip to Casey to unload the bus, sort the items, box them up and load them on the trailer. “I want to thank Bill Brinkley, Dan and Mary Phipps, and Carter for their extra support,” Cory said. “Bill, Dan and Mary helped the night of collecting supplies and Carter unloaded, sorted and packed boxes in Casey.”
Swinderman doesn’t have plans for a future drive, but is currently waiting for information about what items are still needed. “When it comes to community involvement, we were overwhelmed by the generosity of residents in our area.
So many shared how deeply they’ve been impacted by reports from Kentucky and they just wanted to help,” Swinderman said.
“It was a great evening working together to bless others.”
