The Rev. Patty Higgins never wishes anyone a nice day, especially when signing off on emails.
“I can’t write ‘have a nice day’ when I know the person on the other end is having anything but a nice day,” she said.
Instead, the pastor of First Congregational Church of Benzonia United Church of Christ in Michigan, chooses expressions of hope that include, “May today hold a smile for you” and “I hope that the day is kind to you.”
“It seems like a small thing, but words can turn a person’s day around,” said Higgins.
Outreach fair held in parking lot
With such thoughtful sentiments infused into the ethos of First Congregational Church of Benzonia, it’s no surprise that when given the opportunity to generate more smiles and kind days on a grander scale, Higgins’ congregation jumped at the chance.
In August, the Father Fred Foundation in Traverse City once again approached the church to host an outreach fair to help send children back to school with essentials such as new sneakers and socks. It has become an event that the older members of the congregation look forward to, says the pastor. For the foundation, which provides food, clothing and household goods for those in need, it is a way for them to reach more people as it realized that its city location was a hinderance for many families, especially those in northwestern Michigan.
“The issue is that there is a lack of public transportation in rural areas. It is hard to get the help that people need,” said Higgins, adding, “Father Fred was spending more on gas cards help people get to its headquarters in Traverse City. That’s when they decided to take their show on the road.”
And First Congregational of Benzonia became one of its stops.
The outreach fair, though, was not housed inside the church. Rather it was held outdoors where ten nonprofits pulled up with trailers, setting shop in the church’s parking lot.
“I’m a firm believer in using every square inch of church property, including our parking lot,” said Higgins.
The community couldn’t have been more appreciative for the church’s hospitality. By the end of the day more than 200 new sneakers were handed out, along with socks, tote bags and free lunches made by the congregation. School children also received eye exams free of charge. Forty-four glasses were also given out that day, said Higgins.
As the sun went down and the trailers, now weighing less than when they first arrived pulled away, one trailer ministering to single mothers remained.
First Congregational Church of Benzonia welcomed Single MOMM’s mobile office to its church parking lot last November.
The needs of single moms are rising
Since last November, Single MOMM, explained Higgins, has been a permanent fixture on the church campus.
Like the Father Fred Foundation, Single MOMM found its Traverse City location stymying its reach to those in need. The organization, which began in 2008, offering mentoring, educational classes and helpful resources to single mothers of infants, toddler and teens, began scouting a location for a mobile office. It found a warm welcome at First Congregational Benzonia.
The mobile office of MOMM provides single mothers in remote Michigan communities with resources and mentoring to help them and their children.
“It doesn’t matter how they became single or what ages the children are, the MOMM trailer is there to help,” said Sara Moorehead, a member of the church.
Moorehead said that addition of the MOMM trailer has also been a great way for the congregation to interface with the community.
With mothers visiting the MOMM mobile office, often with their children in tow, First Congregational of Benzonia decided to install a playground on the church property.
“For this church, this is what it means to be the church,” she said, acknowledging that the “imbedded dream in all our 70-year-olds” is to have more children. “Do we want more families? Of course.”
But the dream of more families has given way to the reality that ministry is not what one might envision but rather what one can participate in. It’s about being present to the community and helping to meet unmet needs, said Moorehead.
And the needs of single moms are vastly going unmet.
Over the past 50 years, the number of children raised by single mothers has more than doubled in the United States. Studies also show that single mothers across the country are at a greater risk of living in poverty than mothers in a two-parent household.
“It is getting worse for many of these mothers. The need is great,” said Moorhead.
The MOMM mobile office in the church parking lot has not only reached moms in need but has helped a congregation bridge a generational gap. New ministry opportunities have emerged since the nonprofit has parked in the lot.
Last Mother’s Day, the congregation hosted a Mother’s Day brunch for the moms who frequent the MOMM mobile office. And last summer, the church installed a playground for the children of these mothers — and beyond to all caregivers looking for a safe place to bring children to play.
Hosting a mobile office, though, is not without its challenges. As Moorehead explained, there the question of equipping the trailer with electricity, which was solved by running a wire to the vehicle from the church’s auxiliary building, fondly known as “the barn,” which was built 20 years ago, providing space for tutoring and 12-step programs.
Then there was the loss of heat in the dead of winter, said Moorhead.
“We vacated a Sunday school classroom and gave it to MOMM until the heat was fixed in the mobile office,” she said. And when the time came to resurface the parking lot, the MOMM mobile office revved its engine and moved onto lawn.
For the congregation, though, such glitches and snags are worth overcoming as they want to ensure that their pastor’s hopeful email benedictions for more smiles and kinder days never become trite sentimentalities.
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