Knoxville Inasmuch Major Expansion

Wilma Dunlap is a happy woman today.  Shown in the center of the photo below, Wilma and her disabled son live in South Knoxville, TN.  She had been cited by the city for a violation of codes because her lawn had not been mowed in nearly 2 months—something she is physically and financially unable to do.  A fine of $500 was to be imposed by the end of October if she did not bring her yard up to code.

            On November 1 a crew of volunteers from Dante Missionary Baptist Church in North Knoxville came to her home and totally cleaned her yard as one of about 200 projects conducted as a major expansion of Operation Inasmuch.  35 churches, 3 student groups and the local Big Brothers/Big Sisters agency conducted ministry projects throughout the East TN community.  Approximately, 2000 volunteers participated in this ministry event.  Two-thirds of the churches had no prior experience with Inasmuch.

            Operation Inasmuch, Inc. initiated this event but sought the assistance of experienced community leaders for its planning.  They utilized the Operation Inasmuch model throughout their work and chose the name Serving Knoxville As One for their event.  They recruited churches and local non-profits to partner together to assist one or more segments of the poor and marginalized in Knoxville.  They produced resources for the event and offered training for any church needing assistance in planning their projects.  They put up a website used to promote and facilitate the event:  www.serveasone. 

            The Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church joined the effort when David Crocker spoke there just 3 weeks prior to the event.  They quickly organized themselves to collect food for FISH Hospitality Food Pantry.  Volunteers stood at the entrance of 2 local grocery stores from 8 AM until 6 PM handing shoppers flyers about the Pantry and asking them to pick up an extra item or two (several were suggested on their flyer) and donate them to the Food Pantry.  Several hundred pounds of food was collected on November 1.  A few shoppers wanted so badly to help that they brought food to the church after the project had concluded.  Some of the shoppers were people who could use the services of the Pantry and the volunteers provided them with information for their use later.

The Church of the Good Shepherd is not a large congregation.  Yet, about half of their regular worshippers were involved in some aspect of their Inasmuch project.  Rev. Charles Fells says it has helped the church become more aware of the needs of the community and what they can do to meet those needs.  Plans are already underway to conduct more events like Serving Knoxville As One in April of 2009 with more churches and agencies involved.

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