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by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, Editor
December 2006 / January 2007
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| Haystack Winner Beverly Phelps helped Guinope children attend school. |
Beverly Phelps and Thomas T. Taylor represent bright examples of how the UCC has been shining for 50 years. Awarded the Conference’s Haystack Award at the last Annual Meeting, the two were recognized for their efforts to help victims of poverty and natural disasters.
Rev. Lloyd E. Parrill, senior pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Northfield, nominated Phelps for her work with the poor. “In 2002, several members from the local churches visited a missionary medical clinic in Guinope, Honduras,” he explained. “During this visit, Beverly Phelps, a member of the United Church of Bernardston, and the Music Director of the Trinitarian Congregational Church experienced first hand, poor children’s inability to attend school, due to lack of suitable materials. Upon her return, Beverly initiated and inspired an ecumenical, church-sponsored project, to help the poorest of the poor children in Guinope attend school. Under Beverly’s direction, 14 members from three churches took 14 suitcases of clothes and materials, school books, medical supplies, 3 computers and 2 guitars to give to the children.” Over the course of the next three years, under Beverly’s guidance, a school project developed with the combined churches committing to providing for 121 students, who otherwise could not be educated at school.
“You can see the light of God shining in the faces of all the children in Guinope,” said Phelps. “They are irresistible, curious, loving, and appreciative of anything we can do to help them get an education. Yes, I saw the need and started the snowball rolling, but this Project has a life of its own, picking up vital helpers along the way, both here in Massachusetts and in Guinope.”
Another shining example, Thomas T. Taylor, was recognized for his relief work efforts. Rev. Richard E. Malmberg, senior pastor of the the Second Church in Newton, UCC, explained that since hurricane Katrina, Taylor has made at least a half dozen trips to Biloxi, Mississippi, at personal expense to help with the relief effort, and quickly became a key organizer in helping house and dispatch volunteers. “Tom has been a committed church member and lay leader,” said Malmberg. “He has run the stewardship campaigns, served as co-moderator, overseen renovations and chaperoned youth mission trips. He is truly a shining example of how God is still speaking.”
Note: The Haystack Award is given annually to the individual/organization whose words and deeds significantly embody the Biblical notion of charitable social service made possible by benevolent giving. Named after an event in 1806 -- when five young students of Williams College, after praying together under a haystack during a thunderstorm, committed themselves to spreading Christianity overseas – the award preserves the two-fold dimension of being in Mission: justice (social action) and charity (social service).