Altar
Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
September
29, 2013
Auburn shacks
highlight a serious housing problem in Alabama
If you live in a nice home in a nice
neighborhood you may not be aware that thousands of people in Alabama lack
adequate housing. While thousands of us fill our football stadiums every
weekend and enjoy the good life, some of our neighbors do not have the funds to
repair a leaking roof or repair a hole in the kitchen floor.
One woman in Auburn is determined to
help the hundreds of families whose homes need repairs they cannot afford. That
woman is Lisa Pierce, executive director of Alabama Rural Ministry (ARM). Lisa
is relentlessly devoted to her cause and willing to do strange things to draw
attention to the plight of Alabama’s poor.
On Friday, October 11, Lisa will start
bunking in a shack on Gay Street in Auburn. Her shack will be set up in front
of the Auburn Wesley Foundation. Lisa plans to live in that shack for up to
eight days to raise awareness about poverty housing. Her goal is to raise fifty
thousand dollars. More than one hundred families in the area have asked for
help with home repairs. ARM will use the money raised to help as many families
as possible.
While Lisa will be sleeping in her
shack at night she will not be confined to it. She will be busy greeting
visitors and donors and sharing facts about poverty in Alabama with everyone
who will listen.
Lisa is persuasive. She has convinced
several local pastors to join her by staying in two other shacks near her
shack. These pastors are only staying for 24 hours during which time they will
be calling on their friends to make a donation or pledge to ARM.
Some of these caring pastors from area
churches are David Warren, Earl Ballard, Rusty Hutson, Brian Johnson, George
Mathison and Charles Cummings. I was planning to join them but my good friend
George took the last mattress available so I will have to stay home and pray
for them.
Faithful parishioners had better get out
their checkbooks. Each of these pastors is expected to raise five thousand
dollars for ARM. I have an idea George will raise at least twenty thousand. His
wonderful members at Auburn Methodist will not want their beloved old pastor to
spend all night in that shack.
Children and youth will enjoy visiting
the shacks to see Lisa and her friends and to hear some of the information she
will be sharing. Children who donate five dollars will receive a paint brush
and get to apply paint to the shacks. Lisa’s outreach to kids is not
surprising. ARM engages in ministry to children in three counties mainly during
the summer.
Some of you know that my wife and I
have a personal interest in ARM. Our son Steve serves as ARM’s Construction
Coordinator. We are genuinely proud that Steve has answered the call to help
ARM fulfill its mission: to extend the love of Christ through home repair and
children’s ministry in rural parts of Alabama.
Ninety thousand people in Alabama do
not have adequate housing. That is a disturbing fact that should motivate us
all to do at least two things: give thanks for what Lisa and her staff are
doing and make a generous donation to ARM. I will be expecting a call from
David and Earl and I will have my check ready to send in. I hope many of you
who are reading this will be moved to join me in making a donation to this
splendid cause. You don’t have to send a thousand dollars; you can send a
hundred or even ten. If enough of us do
what we can, together we can make a difference.
If compassion gets the best of you, you can
go ahead and send a donation to ARM at P. O. Box 2890, Auburn, AL 36831. If you
want more information feel free to call Lisa and her staff at 334-501-4276. + +
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