A Pledge for
the Poor

UMTV Web Brief #45  4/2/03

A Will To Serve – Intro:

Welcome to this UMTV Web Brief. I’m Reed Galin.

Members of Central United Methodist Church in Albuquerque thought they knew one of their fellow congregants well. But they discovered a whole new side to the woman after her death. She gave them a surprise in her will. She had no children, lived a very simple life, but, in death, she left a fortune for strangers.

A Will To Serve – Story:

Helen Fox / Member, Central United Methodist Church: “She really truly cared about children, and the fact that no child should have to live on the streets, that all children should have the right to a home.”

Frances Thaxton Ash was a quiet, devout woman who loved her modest home. Having grown up in the Great Depression, she was frugal and saved her money, but there was no indication about how much she had put away.  And when she died at 96, she left most of it to her church, Central United Methodist in Albuquerque.

Helen Fox: “It was very overwhelming to me because it was approximately $4 million.”

Four million dollars, with the stipulation that all of it be used to help homeless families.

Charles Crutchfield / Pastor, Central United Methodist Church: “I thought, my Lord in heaven, are we up to this challenge?”

Central United Methodist Church hasn’t decided exactly how to disperse the money. Members want to use most of it for long-term homeless programs – housing, job training, education. A staff person will be hired just to manage the trust. And that’s not all – Mrs. Ash left millions more to friends and to other United Methodist churches in New Mexico.

Single women with children make up the largest group of homeless. Here people in need, like Sylinda and Michael, are given food, clothing and childcare.

Sylinda Byrd: "Right now I'm choosing to pay for school instead of having us being in a place of our own, so probably if I could have help with school, then we could be a little more independent right now."

Mrs. Ash's legacy is a reminder that everyone of every age deserves a chance for independence, dignity and hope.

Charles Crutchfield: There was a twinkle in her eye from time to time. And I kind of wonder, in retrospect, if she didn't see this as a kind of challenge that said, 'All right, folks, you talk a good talk. Let's see if you can walk the walk.'"

A Will to Serve – Tag:

Central United Methodist Church hasn’t decided exactly how to disperse the money. Members want to use most of it for long-term homeless programs – housing, job training, education. A staff person will be hired just to manage the trust. And that’s not all – Mrs. Ash left millions more to friends and to other United Methodist churches in New Mexico.Nutrition Mission – Intro:

Nutrition Mission – Intro:

Something like 70 percent of Americans have their own homes, with bedrooms for everyone, in most cases. In many parts of the world, the very thought of a single-family home is inconceivable. In Senegal, West Africa, it’s not unusual to find 50 people living in one house. This is a culture in which men often have multiple wives and large numbers of children. How are those families fed? With some help from the United Methodist church – in a nation that is almost entirely Muslim.

Nutrition Mission – Story:

The guests of honor at this makeshift rooftop restaurant in Dakar, Senegal, in West Africa, are all children. The menu is designed to make them healthy.

Mbwizu Ndjungu: “Sour milk with peanut butter ...”

… flavored by fruit from the native baobab tree. The nutrition program is part of the mission initiative of The United Methodist Church. Mbwizu Ndjungu saw a need in a largely Muslim society where it’s not unusual for men to have multiple wives and dozens of children.

Mbwizu Ndjungu: “They cannot feed them all. So what we do, we say we will feed these hungry children.”

So she has come to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital of Senegal, providing food and monthly visits from a medical doctor. But even with all she is doing, Ndjungu wishes she could do more. Especially when she sees the need in children like 11-month-old Careatu. He’s too weak to cry, says his mother. She’s not much better.

Mbwizu Ndjungu: “She will die. Look at her. She will die. As a church, what shall I do? What shall I do for this woman?”

For now, Ndjungu is doing what she can to feed children at four centers around the city, twice a week. And she is seeing the results in more ways than one. Through this program, 12 new churches have begun. 

Nutrition Mission – Tag:

Ndjungu is glad the women have come to trust her enough to allow a television camera to take their pictures. Before she could even start this outreach program, she had to meet with the local imams for their permission.

Thanks for watching. Make it a good week.