House of the Carpenter gives hope to poor

A UMNS Report
By Chuck Long*

"I worry about the kids first," says Cora Lynn as she browses through rows of clothing racks. "Right now, it's not so good."

Lynn is on a mission. She is trying to find donated clothing and food for her children, and the House of the Carpenter has come to her rescue. "They always help," she says.

Based in Wheeling, W.Va., the House of the Carpenter was created in 1964 to help poor and disadvantaged people as a ministry related to the West Virginia Annual (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church. The impact was immediate. Families with small children, the newly homeless and the elderly flocked to the two-room storefront on Wheeling Island.

Maple Newland selects clothing at the House of the Carpenter in Wheeling, W.Va. UMNS photos by Reed Galin.

On the second floor of its current and much larger location, the Rev. Jack Lipphardt, associate minister of the House of the Carpenter, looks away from his computer screen to gaze at the street below. "I see a city and a region of people that are in distress," he says.

West Virginia has a higher-than-average rate of poverty, leaving families like that of Barbara Riggle struggling.

"I get $52 in food stamps, so this helps a lot," says Riggle, a mother of three, as she scans the boys' clothing section at House of Carpenter. She also brings her family to the center for complimentary dinners twice a month. "This is about the only way I can get the kids what they need. I don't know what I'd do (otherwise), to be honest."

The ministry's list of needs continues to grow. On an average month in the mid-1970s, the center helped feed 50 families. Today, it helps feed more than 850 families. The organization also provides assistance to those having trouble paying for such essentials as rent, utilities, medical bills and transportation costs.

A goal for many organizations that assist the underprivileged is to provide food and shelter, but staff at the House of the Carpenter tries to look beyond those needs.

"We know the Band-Aid approach of providing food for someone provides an immediate response for a need," Lipphardt says, "but it doesn't solve the problem of why there's hunger, why there's no food in the house, why the children aren't doing well in school, why there are health issues. So we get involved in more long-range kinds of things, such as the creation of a health clinic."

More than 10,000 patients
The health clinic had a modest beginning but evolved quickly. "A free walk-in clinic was started in a Sunday school room and provided care to the working poor one day a week," he says. "It is now operating as a complete primary care center operating from three different sites. They have an active patient load of over 10,000 individuals."

Nurse practitioner Frances Smaltz examines Christine Siburt at the United Methodist-supported social services ministry.

The House of the Carpenter develops additional long-term programs exploring the root causes of hunger and poverty, and working to understand the health, education and human rights needs in communities. To pay for those, Lipphardt browses the Internet in search of grants.

"The need is up in this region. There's been a lot of industrial loss, a lot of job loss. People are getting older and can't make the contributions they once made."

Despite depressed economic times, Lipphardt remains positive, pointing to other success stories.
"One of the best ways to describe success is CAPE (Children And Parents in Education) that we combined with the school system," Lipphardt points out. "Project CAPE helps young parents finish their education while their children attend Head Start (the national program that promotes school readiness). The program was designed to help break the cycle of poverty."

Lipphardt is on a roll. "We have a large number of folks who are able to support themselves with new jobs as a result of the ministry of the church. They find their self-esteem and put their lives and families back together. They're not living in the mansion on the hill, but they're caring for themselves and taking care of the kids and, in some cases, even finding ways to cover college expenses for the kids. We're real proud of that."

Poverty is widespread
Discussing his passion for the House of the Carpenter, Lipphardt notes that poverty knocks on the door all too often. He feels compelled to counsel not just the oppressed but the fortunate as well.

"We as Christians can be pretty judgmental at times. There is not a face of what poverty looks like. It might be somebody sitting in the pew next to you in a pool of tears."

Downstairs from Lipphardt, another wave of less-fortunate people arrives to peruse fresh produce and search for clothes to take to their families.

Helping shoppers find what they need, House of the Carpenter organizer Ann Senkbeil observes, "It makes you aware of why we're here. It's not new clothes, but it's new to them. There are so many people that are very appreciative of what they get from here."

*Long is a freelance producer based in Nashville, Tenn.