Inasmuch a gift to coordinator, church, community

By Dianna L. Cagle

BR Assistant Managing Editor

Marvin Hereford talks with Operation Inasmuch volunteers April 19 at a special dinner held at the end of a day filled with projects in Currituck County.

Photo by Dianna Cagle

Biblical Recorder

Agreeing to coordinate a county's efforts for April 19 Operation Inasmuch, Marvin Hereford chose to make that day his parting gift to Moyock Baptist Church and Currituck County.

Hereford, who is starting a job in Kentucky this month, made staying through OIAM a stipulation of accepting the job in Lexington, Ky.

"Thank you for your day," Hereford said as he went from site to site making sure volunteers had enough supplies and taking photographs of each project. Coordinating over a dozen projects in the county, Hereford spent April 19 on the road traveling between job sites.

Hereford has coordinated OIAM the last three years for his church, which has been participating in Inasmuch for six years. April 19 made the seventh year, although Moyock generally does their Inasmuch day in September.

"My trailer looks so pretty," said one homeowner, who works part time at a local hardware store. She did not have the funds or ability to clean the home or do landscaping. "I just couldn't rave enough. It's just a bountiful blessing. The Lord answered a prayer on the weather today."

When Hereford was recruited as county coordinator, he contacted Gaylon Moss, the North Carolina Baptist Men volunteer coordinator to ask "what do you want from me?"

Sending letters to every church he could think of and calling others, Hereford said the churches who were working April 19 "are the guys that showed up" for a meeting.

A Methodist, Episcopal, non-denominational and a couple of other Baptist churches joined with Moyock Baptist in an effort to show God's love across their community and state.

Volunteers worked on several construction and landscaping projects and cleaned windows in people's homes.

Hereford said there were "a lot of good people doing some good work today."

Working with social services to identify jobs throughout the county, Hereford surveyed the jobs and determined if the project could be done in about half a day or a day.

His church also helped with a butterfly garden and other landscaping at a nearby elementary school and fed lunch to volunteer firefighters. The children helped at a rest stop for the Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association. They gave out water and energy snacks to cyclists as well as held the bicycles for those who did not have kickstands.

The owner of a local car repair shop donated a day's time to give free safety inspections and repaired brakes and air conditioning and provided oil changes.

One man, who owns a plumbing business, donated his time and supplies to replace water lines for one homeowner.

It was the first time she had hot water to wash her clothes.

"I just couldn't tell him how much I appreciated it," she said. "You just don't know how much I appreciate it. I don't have words to tell you."

One group hauled four to five loads of debris and yard trash away from one house.

"I felt very necessary at the other place," said Diane Huey, a member at Pilmoor United Methodist Church, who had worked all morning cleaning debris and landscaping one yard before moving to another landscaping project.

At the end of the day, volunteers gathered to share a meal and stories from the day's work.

"There's a whole host of people it took to get this off the ground," Hereford said.

Rich Vandriesen, one of the Moyock site coordinators, said his group's job turned into a bigger project than expected. Instead of replacing the flooring in one room and repairing and sealing the roof, they had to replace two-thirds of the flooring because it was unsafe.

"I wasn't really in charge," Vandriesen said. "I was a tool."

Marion Dannert, a member at Pilmoor, said something happens when you work together.

The bonds forged "will mean something in the future with relationships at the church, " she said.