Glennville Rotary Club presented a check for $1602 to GAMA (Glennville Area Ministerial Association) and one for $500 to Community Support Center this past Wednesday, November 13, 2024, for their organizations that assist helping needy persons throughout the year. These funds were raised from individual donations from Rotarians as well as from the club account.
Glennville First Baptist Pastor Brandon Newell, Restoration Pointe Church of God Pastor Roger Nelson, and Glennville Methodist Church Pastor David Donnan accepted the donation on behalf of GAMA, and Community Support Center Director Angie Henry accepted the check for the Center.
"Pastor Donnan explained that humankind was made in God's image. Each person in our community bears the image of God. We want to be able to serve each of these image bearers in their time of need. Likewise, working alongside other pastors and churches allows the provision of fellowship and sharing,” he said.
"Even though we do not always think alike, we all can love alike," he commented, referring to a quote by the founder of Methodism, John Wesley.
Pastor Newell further expounded on GAMA itself and the release of $27,000 the past 13 months from the Good Samaritan Fund of GAMA. These monies have been given for utilities, gas, and food, with most of these people making a request having simply fallen on hard times.
Newell pointed out that these individuals making requests are interviewed and cross-referenced so that GAMA will be serving them rather than enabling them. Bonnie Weeks, secretary for GAMA, carefully screens each request for its validity and also checks with Angie Henry at the Community Support Center to check to see if the Center has already responded to the person's need.
"We give $50 a month to a local Hispanic church to support them, and sometimes we have helped with rent for a local person or a hotel room for a night or two for a homeless person. However, we are careful in the distribution of funds so that we are not scammed by people," he added.
Through GAMA and churches working together, we can do so much more than working separately. We are good stewards of the GAMA funds, but God compels our hearts to give out of our community benevolence," said Newell.
"Also, one of GAMA's main funding comes from our love offering from our fifth Sunday night services. These services rotate among our member churches, and this allows us to do so much more for others by coming together," he said.
Pastor Roger Nelson commented that he had lived in Glennville all his life with the exception of five years in Vidalia while pastoring a church there. He has been the pastor of Restoration Pointe Church of God for the past nine years. He said he recalls that GAMA may have been organized in the 1970s, if not before.
"GAMA is two-fold, in that we don't pastor alone to our community. Also, we are together to make a bigger difference in the lives of those who are needy in our community," he said.
In addition to Glennville First Baptist, Glennville Methodist, and Restoration Pointe Church of God, other GAMA member churches are Cornerstone Bible, Anchor Pointe, Upper Room Deliverance Center, Living Hope Baptist Church, First Christian Church, First African Baptist Church, and “The Way” Hispanic Church.
