CEDC (Community Economic Development Center) is a non-profit, community development corporation. CEDC is affiliated with other community development centers across the state, yet the goals of each center may vary according to the needs around them, as each center works independently.

New Bedford’s CEDC office is located at 1285 Acushnet Avenue, and is currently entering its 18th year of operation. This center works with local communities to make positive changes and to revitalize neighborhoods through people-centered development. They also connect people with specific needs to existing resources or programs that would help them. If the resource does not already exist, CEDC will work to meet the need of the individual or family, although CEDC itself does have certain areas of expertise. These areas include economic development, English classes, and VITA (Volunteers in Tax Assistance).

Those at CEDC are knowledgeable about what is needed to get a small business going, which is a main part of their economic development program. They help explain the little details that have to be thought through in starting a business, the special requirements for certain businesses, what inspections may be needed, how to fill out paper work, and find available classes that are offered for starting businesses. They have experience in aiding the start of bakeries, restaurants, retail shops, minimarts, and some online businesses. They are also currently working on a program to bring broad band technology to businesses to help them with marketing, recordkeeping, social media, and website development.

English classes are also an important aspect of CEDC because of the number of people who have immigrated to New Bedford and do not know the language yet. These classes are a benefit those who are trying to learn the language for work, educational, and medical purposes.

Finally, there is VITA, which has been a huge benefit to the local community. VITA is a free program CEDC offers to low to moderate income residents who need help filing their taxes. Last tax season the volunteers for VITA helped fill out 1,500 tax returns, which reportedly poured 1.9 million dollars back into the community.

CEDC is also part of Bus Riders United whose goal is to improve public transportation in the SRTA (Southeastern Regional Transit Authority) area. They are working to restore bus services on Sundays and to get the busses directly to the New Bedford waterfront during working hours. People walking to or from work at night or early in the mornings are sometimes victims of violent crimes and assaults; busses that bring workers all the way to the waterfront would hopefully help cut down on these crimes. SRTA also recently began offering bus services at night for the first time in about 27 years. With the many people using these busses, the routes between New Bedford and Fall River have become overcrowded and they are looking into adding more busses to these routes.

Much of the other work that CEDC does is to act as a filler when existing services cannot fully meet a person’s need, especially when it comes to translation. CEDC has helped people who do not speak English fill out police reports. Often they will end up with expensive medical bills if they have been assaulted, and CEDC will either connect them to resources or talk to the hospitals on behalf of the victims. If a crime is investigated or an arrest has been made, CEDC can act as a liaison between the court and witness victim advocates to help with any language barriers. CEDC also links the victims with legal resources that may be in the area.

CEDC works a lot with the immigrant community, understanding the important role they have always played in New Bedford, and to an extent, the whole nation. Since the 1600s, when the English came here, wave after wave of immigrants have followed. It is part of the foundation that built this country and allowed it to thrive. For New Bedford specifically, during the whaling days, it was partly immigrants who brought much of the wealth into this city; it was the same during the height of the textile industry, and even now, there are many immigrant workers on New Bedford’s waterfront and in the fish houses, where a lot of the city’s economic strength still comes from. Many are hardworking individuals who are truly seeking a better life, but their rights are often abused. This is where CEDC will step in to help.

A newer project that they have begun working on is called The Great Neighborhoods. This is a replication of a similar project going on in Boston. The purpose is to bring in a wide range of people and organizations – business owners, those who live in the community, city departments – together to talk about what is going on in the neighborhood and how to change some existing issues.

In New Bedford, some concerns are basic, but important, such as how the neighborhood looks. So, beautification projects are put into place to plant more flowers or keep things cleaner by providing more waste receptacles. The more key issues are those that impact the quality of life, such as public safety. These issues can be taken care of by knowing where assaults and crimes are occurring, having better communication with the police departments, and increasing police presence to protect the neighborhood.

CEDC recently began a newer addition to The Great Neighborhoods project in New Bedford through trying to increasing the amount of public art. There is a new mural at the 7-Eleven on Coffin Ave. and another mural about AmeriCorps service on Deane St. and Acushnet Ave. CEDC is also trying to get vacant store fronts turned into public art galleries, and they are currently working on a photography exhibit highlighting the diverse immigrant community in New Bedford. (If anyone has photos they would like to submit, they can find out more information by emailing Siggy Melius at siggycdc@gmail.com.) CEDC would love to see these empty spaces fill up in the future with historical pictures of what either used to be in the store fronts or what Acushnet Avenue used to look like.

CEDC is supported by grants, private foundations, and state funding. They are participating in a new program that provides a 50 percent match for any donations over $1,000, in which a community investment tax credit could be claimed by those donating. CEDC hopes to bring more resources into the New Bedford community in order to be able to do more work. CEDC’s New Bedford location is run by Corinn Williams, the Executive Director, Brian Pastori, Deputy Director, Siggy Melius, Bus Riders United organizer, Ken Rapoza Small Business Specialist, and AmeriCorps members, Joselyn Feliciano and Sandra Belli.

LearnYourOptions is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating women and couples regarding their available options when facing an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy. According to Massachusetts General Law, when a woman is seeking an abortion, a physician is to provide her with a detailed form covering the following information: the developmental stages of the unborn baby, what an abortive surgery actually entails, the complications that could arise from the surgery, alternatives to abortion, and other legalities regarding the woman signing and handing the form back to the physician. This form covers a lot of information. Therefore, LearnYourOptions seeks to spend time informing and educating women who are trying to understand all of the choices available to them and all of the possible side effects of the choice they will make.

The trained counselors working in this organization are highly sensitive to the fear, confusion, or anger women often feel when learning of an unplanned pregnancy. They know that it can be incredibly difficult for women to voice these fears and concerns to even family members or close friends. The counselors strive to make all women feel safe and comfortable discussing the issues they may not be ready to discuss with any other individual at that point. They are dedicated to walking with each woman through her journey, helping her to make a fully informed decision about her child.

Often women feel that their only choice for an unplanned pregnancy and an unwanted baby is to have an abortion, even when they are not sure they want one. This is because many women are unaware of the help they would receive when choosing to keep their baby. If a woman does not have a support system, LearnYourOptions will help them find one through other organizations they partner with. One of these organizations, Safe Families Programs, helps women throughout even the first year of the baby’s life.

LearnYourOptions is not an abortion clinic and does not perform abortive procedures. All of the services they provide are completely free, which includes: pregnancy testing, obstetrical ultrasounds, and options counseling. Depending on the individual need of each woman who decides to continue her pregnancy, LearnYourOptions provides material assistance, parenting classes (while the mother is pregnant), infant classes (after the mother gives birth), housing and insurance referrals, and other means of aid in getting the mother stabilized throughout the challenge she is facing.

If a woman is positive she wants an abortion, the counselors discuss the procedure, along with the physical, emotional, and spiritual effects the surgery could have on her. LearnYourOptions also offers post abortion counseling for women who seek healing. The counselors are aware that no matter what choice a woman makes, their lives will be changed and there will be effects within that woman’s life that will always stay with her. Parenting can be difficult, adoption can be emotional, and abortion can be scarring. But LearnYourOptions offers help and hope to women facing these challenges.

For more information visit www.LearnYourOptions.org.

~ LearnYourOptions operates at three centers ~
South Coast: 25 North Main Street, Fall River, MA 02720 (508) 646-2665
Boston: 97 Broad Way, Revere, MA 02151 (781) 284-8747
Cape Cod: 48 Camp Street, Hyannis, MA 02601 (508) 790-0584

LearnYourOptions is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating women and couples regarding their available options when facing an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy. According to Massachusetts General Law, when a woman is seeking an abortion, a physician is to provide her with a detailed form covering the following information: the developmental stages of the unborn baby, what an abortive surgery actually entails, the complications that could arise from the surgery, alternatives to abortion, and other legalities regarding the woman signing and handing the form back to the physician. This form covers a lot of information. Therefore, LearnYourOptions seeks to spend time informing and educating women who are trying to understand all of the choices available to them and all of the possible side effects of the choice they will make.

The trained counselors working in this organization are highly sensitive to the fear, confusion, or anger women often feel when learning of an unplanned pregnancy. They know that it can be incredibly difficult for women to voice these fears and concerns to even family members or close friends. The counselors strive to make all women feel safe and comfortable discussing the issues they may not be ready to discuss with any other individual at that point. They are dedicated to walking with each woman through her journey, helping her to make a fully informed decision about her child.

Often women feel that their only choice for an unplanned pregnancy and an unwanted baby is to have an abortion, even when they are not sure they want one. This is because many women are unaware of the help they would receive when choosing to keep their baby. If a woman does not have a support system, LearnYourOptions will help them find one through other organizations they partner with. One of these organizations, Safe Families Programs, helps women throughout even the first year of the baby’s life.
LearnYourOptions is not an abortion clinic and does not perform abortive procedures. All of the services they provide are completely free, which includes: pregnancy testing, obstetrical ultrasounds, and options counseling. Depending on the individual need of each woman who decides to continue her pregnancy, LearnYourOptions provides material assistance, parenting classes (while the mother is pregnant), infant classes (after the mother gives birth), housing and insurance referrals, and other means of aid in getting the mother stabilized throughout the challenge she is facing.

If a woman is positive she wants an abortion, the counselors discuss the procedure, along with the physical, emotional, and spiritual effects the surgery could have on her. LearnYourOptions also offers post abortion counseling for women who seek healing. The counselors are aware that no matter what choice a woman makes, their lives will be changed and there will be effects within that woman’s life that will always stay with her. Parenting can be difficult, adoption can be emotional, and abortion can be scarring. But LearnYourOptions offers help and hope to women facing these challenges.

For more information visit www.LearnYourOptions.org.

~ LearnYourOptions operates at three centers ~
South Coast: 25 North Main Street, Fall River, MA 02720 (508) 646-2665
Boston: 97 Broad Way, Revere, MA 02151 (781) 284-8747
Cape Cod: 48 Camp Street, Hyannis, MA 02601 (508) 790-0584

Most of the following information in this second part of the Frederick Douglass article is taken from his autobiography, My Bondage and My freedom.

Douglass eloquently and beautifully wrote down his hard story. His story is free of manipulative drama but full of soul. He wrote that suffering did not ultimately bring him to despair – it brought him to hope for a future when a person would not be bound under oppression because of their race. Douglass’s hope was so strong that he became part of the solution to slavery, spending most of his life in pursuit of freedom for his race. His story is one worth reading.

When Frederick and Anna left New York after they got married, they first went to Newport, RI. Here, they met two abolitionists who told them about New Bedford, which was one of the significant destinations of the Underground Railroad. Within just a few weeks of Douglass escaping slavery and getting married, he and his wife settled into New Bedford with a completely new landscape for life in front of them.

The Douglass’ were welcomed into the home of Nathan and Polly Johnson, African American abolitionists living at 21 Seventh Street in New Bedford. It was here that Frederick and Anna were encouraged to take the last name ‘Douglass.’ When Douglass arrived in New York, he changed his last name to Johnson to protect his identity, but he changed it a second time when Nathan Johnson suggested the name Douglass.

Douglass’s book My Bondage and My Freedom describes the scenes he saw on his first afternoon in New Bedford. He went down to the docks and as he watched the men at work he was surprised by what he saw. “On the wharves I saw industry without bustle, labor without noise, and heavy toil without the whip…there was no loud cursing or swearing…everything went on as smoothly as the works of a well adjusted machine” (351). He was also taken back by the wise use of animals to help with work. He took note that an ox worth eighty dollars was doing “what would have required fifteen thousand dollars worth of human bones and muscles to have performed in a southern port…everything was done here with a scrupulous regard to economy, both in regard to men and things, time and strength” (352).

Nathan Johnson assured Douglass that in New Bedford, black and white children went to school together, that a black man could hold any office in the state, and that no slaveholder could take a slave from New Bedford. This sealed Douglass’s assurance of his safety and he immediately set out to look for work. He found his first job three days after arriving in New Bedford and described his experience in these words: “It was new, hard, and dirty work, even for a calker [sic], but I went at it with a glad heart and a willing hand. I was now my own master – a tremendous fact – and the rapturous excitement with which I seized the job, may not easily be understood, except by some one [sic] with an experience something like mine…that day’s work I considered the real starting point of something like a new existence” (354).

His delight in finding New Bedford to be a place of such prosperous industries and economic wealth gave him hope of the new life he could live being his own master; he would have no one over him to take the money out of his hands that his own mind, sweat and muscle had earned. To him, this was a true manifestation of liberty. For years he had to endure watching every cent he worked for trickle out of his hands and be funneled to another person just to make their own life a little bit sweeter than it already was.

New Bedford held even more surprises for Douglass. Douglass’s sense of wealth and poverty came from his experience of life in the south. There, if a person had money, it was because they owned slaves – it was the work of slaves that brought money into the south. If white people didn’t own slaves, they were poor. Douglass described the white non-slaveholders as “the most ignorant and poverty stricken of men, and the laughing stock even of slaves themselves – called generally by them, in derision, ‘poor white trash.’”

Douglass wrote of his amazement in finding the laboring class of New Bedford living in houses “elegantly furnished – surrounded by more comfort and refinement – than a majority of the slaveholders” in Maryland. Of Nathan Johnson’s home Douglass wrote: “He lived in a nicer house…was owner of more books, the reader of more newspapers, was more conversant with the moral, social and political conditions of the country and the world, than nine-tenths of the slaveholders in Talbot County, Maryland” (350-51).

While Douglass made it perfectly clear through his writing that New Bedford was not fully free from discrimination and segregation (he found prejudice in workplaces and churches), he always ultimately remained grateful for the freedom he had found and the refuge he had in living in a state that did not allow ownership of slaves. Seeing discrimination in New Bedford did not set him back, though; he used it as a propeller to pursue total freedom for his race.

A few months after the Douglass’ arrival in New Bedford, a young man brought Douglass a copy of the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper edited by William Lloyd Garrison. Douglass described the Liberator as “a paper after my own heart. It detested slavery…made no truce with the traffickers in the bodies and souls of men; it…demanded the complete emancipation of my race.” Through this paper, Douglass began to know the heart of the editor, Garrison. “Of all men beneath the sky, the slaves, because most neglected and despised, were nearest and dearest to his great heart” (360). From this point on, Douglass began attending all the anti-slavery meetings held in New Bedford, not yet realizing his own important future role in the fight against slavery.

In 1841, Garrison and others put together an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket. Douglass had taken no time off or vacation from his work since escaping slavery nearly three years before this. For the first time, he took a vacation to attend the convention. To his complete surprise, once he was there he was asked to speak. He described remembering very little about what he said except that he was shaking from nerves at the thought of speaking to a large group of people (1,000 were gathered).

At the end of the meeting Douglass was asked to become an agent for the Massachusetts anti-slavery society. He hesitated, feeling he was not prepared to take on such a position, but ended up accepting. He wrote that he was often introduced as having “…my diploma written on my back” (363).

This was the very beginning of Douglass’s launch into his work for the abolition of slavery. While living in New Bedford opened up for Douglass a new way of life and new opportunities, he also left his own mark in New Bedford. He, along with other slave fugitives, stamped New Bedford as being a haven for slaves during the rocky time in our country’s history when battles were raging over the different ideals people held regarding race and slavery.

Douglass went on to become a well known orator, speaking nationally (as well as in Ireland and Great Britain) against slavery, sometimes even risking his life for this. He endured insults and threats, was often tired and lonely, but he never forgot his end goal. Douglass also became an advisor, political ally and friend to six presidents. He worked with and was a friend to abolitionists, women’s suffrage leaders, such as Susan B. Anthony, and authors, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was a writer, publisher, speaker, preacher and political activist; from his selfless work others after him have felt the impact of the blessings he brought to the framework of America.

New Bedford’s prominently abolitionist stance played an important role in Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey’s life.

“Your wickedness and cruelty committed in this respect on your fellow creatures, are greater than all the stripes you have laid upon my back or theirs. It is an outrage upon the soul, a war upon the immortal spirit, and one for which you must give account at the bar of our common Father and Creator.” An excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s book, My Bondage and My Freedom.

Ever since I was a teenager I have been interested in the history of warfare. So, when I saw that one of my class options at UMass Dartmouth this fall was War and Military Culture, I was excited to take it. The books we have been reading shed war under two different lights – war is waged to either spread evil or to stop the spread of evil. For example, in our own country, the north and south both put up a four-year-long mighty fight over the issue of slavery.

One side was for it and one was against it. One side saw nothing wrong with forming their own measurement of how much value a certain race should hold – to them some races were better than others. This thinking led to the abuse and oppression of slaves that was so horrific that any words I write will fail to accurately portray their intense suffering. The other side believed that the worth of any human life, created and given by God, was of equal value – race had nothing to do with the soul of a human being.

This past week, reading about the Civil War led me to think about Frederick Douglass’s story, the role New Bedford played in his life, and the role he played in the abolition of slavery. His is a very inspiring story; it will be hard to write briefly, so this article will be in two parts. This first article will cover his biography from his birth to his arrival in New Bedford.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey (later known as Frederick Douglass) was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, around the year 1818. He never knew the exact date of his birth but eventually chose to celebrate it on February 14th. At an early age Douglass was separated from his mother, a common practice in that time and place, and brought to live with his maternal grandmother.

By the age of 12, his mother – who he never saw much – had died, he had been separated from his grandmother, and he had been moved to two different plantations. This second plantation belonged to Thomas Auld, who often hired Douglass out to other slave and plantation owners. Thomas first gave Douglass to his brother, Hugh Auld. It was here that Douglass began to learn how to read from Hugh’s wife, Sophia. In Maryland it was against state law to teach slaves to read, though, so when Hugh found out what his wife was doing, he forced her to stop. His concern was that if Douglass learned to read, he would become dissatisfied as a slave and want his freedom. Yet, Douglass secretly continued to learn to read from white children in his neighborhood.

Around the age of 12 Douglass discovered The Columbian Orator, a collection of political essays, poems and dialogues which was widely used in the American classroom to teach reading and speaking. This piece of literature was what molded his thoughts about freedom and human rights, greatly impacting his life and the role he eventually played in the abolition of slavery.

Still in his early teens, Douglass was taken from Hugh Auld’s plantation and hired out to another man, William Freeland. Here, Douglass began a weekly church service where he also taught other slaves to read using the New Testament. Freeland never interfered with these lessons, which up to 40 slaves attended, but after a while the other local slave owners became angry. They didn’t want their slaves to be educated. One week, armed with clubs and stones, they disbanded the meetings permanently.

By the time Douglass was 16, he had been hired out to yet another man named Edward Covey. Covey had gained a reputation as a “slave breaker” and lived up to that reputation with his treatment of Douglass. His regular abuse and beatings almost ruined Douglass psychologically. Yet, at one point along the way, Douglass chose to fight back. He won that fight, putting a final stop to Covey’s beatings.

Under Covey, in 1836, Douglass’s second attempt at freedom failed (he first tried escaping from Freeland). But one year later in 1837, meeting a free black woman named Anna Murray, Douglass again began to hope that he, too, could be free one day. On September 3, 1838, having received some money and a sailor’s uniform from Anna and identification papers from a seaman, he boarded a train to the safe house of an abolitionist in New York. Later, he wrote of this time: “I have often been asked, how I felt when first I found myself on free soil…There is scarcely anything in my experience about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer.

A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath, and the ‘quick round of blood,’ I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: ‘I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.’ Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil” (Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, p. 120).

When Douglass arrived in New York, he immediately sent for Anna and she met him there. They were married just a couple weeks later and chose New Bedford for their first home together, arriving on September 17, 1838. New Bedford, being known for its racial tolerance in general at that time (although not totally free from prejudices), was the springboard from which Douglass went on to impact the nation so heavily in his stand against slavery and the equality of races.

Frederick Douglass and the city of New Bedford – Pt. 2

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the whaling industry in America boomed, and eventually New Bedford became the world’s center of whaling. At the height of the whaling industry’s economic impact in New Bedford, there were more than 700 whaling ships out on the oceans of the world, and New Bedford was the home port to more than 400 of those ships.

The oil from the whales, bringing an incredible amount of wealth to New Bedford and making it one of the richest cities in the world during the 19th century, was used to light lamps during this time period, and earned New Bedford the title of “the city that lit the world.”

But with wealth and titles comes a cost – the voyages that men went on to bring New Bedford to this level of economic prosperity sometimes lasted years, and it was a hard, dirty, long and tiring job. Some of these men, when they returned to New Bedford, were known to seek out brothels and saloons or gamble away all the money they had made out at sea, spending it in just a matter of days. So, in 1830, the leading citizens of New Bedford met to discuss ways to help these men.

Part of their plan was to offer the seamen church services before they left for their voyages. The services were held either on the waterfront or in the Town Hall, but this was not a good long term solution. In 1831, Seamen’s Bethel was built (at a cost of $5,000 dollars), and in 1832 it was dedicated as a non denominational church for the men of New Bedford who went out to sea.

This chapel, still open and operating as a non denominational church today, eventually became a sort of historical record of those who spent their time on whaling ships. Mounted on the walls inside the church are cenotaphs. The word “cenotaph” is a Greek word which means “empty grave.” When men were lost or died at sea, the families at home had no way to bury them, so they could pay to have a cenotaph placed in the church. This way, loved ones could come and pay their respects to the one they lost. A cenotaph looks like a cemetery headstone, and it contains information about the man, including how he died.

These tablets tell brief stories of how difficult life at sea was. Many men fell overboard, were bitten by sharks, drowned or caught and suffered from diseases like yellow fever, malaria, and consumption.

Seamen’s Bethel also made its way into history through Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick. Melville went to services held at Seamen’s Bethel before he sailed out of Fairhaven in 1841 on the whaler Acushnet. He did not leave many direct accounts of this 18 month voyage, but it is probable that some of the events described in Moby Dick portray some aspects of his time at sea. The cenotaphs of Seamen’s Bethel, specifically, are mentioned in his novel.

Each year the New Bedford Whaling Museum hosts a Moby Dick Marathon. This coming January it will be a weekend event which will include a pre-marathon dinner, a Moby Dick themed lecture, and a quiz to test the knowledge of the Melville Society Cultural Project, followed by the reading of Moby Dick. Certain chapters of the novel will be read in the Seamen’s Bethel.

Seamen’s Bethel is located at 15 Johnny Cake Hill in New Bedford, across from the Whaling Museum, and it is a part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It is open to the public every day from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Memorial Day through Columbus Day. This chapel is a small part of New Bedford’s whaling history and a reminder of the men who were lost at sea.

“I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’ “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40)

These verses found in the gospel of Matthew are the cornerstone verses for Mercy Meals and More, a local outreach ministry that works from Pilgrim U.C.C.’s Church Home located in downtown New Bedford. Here is a little background on how Mercy Meals and More came into existence and what it is all about.

Around seven years ago, Pilgrim U.C.C. began opening it’s church home doors one Saturday morning a month for absolutely anyone who needed a meal, no questions asked. This was originally a community breakfast program that operated specifically on Saturdays when other food programs would close for the weekend. Very quickly three other local churches joined in supporting this effort so that breakfast would be available every single Saturday, instead of only once a month. Within a few years it grew into an outreach ministry called Mercy Meals and More and the doors are now open six mornings a week, Monday through Saturday.

On October 5, 2010, this ministry came into existence with a $2,192.00 dollar budget. One of the founders of the ministry pointed out that while this was not a lot of money to propel a ministry catering to feed anyone who needed a meal, it was a great chance to see God at work, providing for every need. He called it a ‘modern day miracle’ as this ministry will be continuing into its fifth year next month.

Two important things that mark this ministry (apart from many others) are: the way guests are treated once they walk through the doors of the church and the community that has begun to exist among the guests.

It does not matter who walks in the doors to eat breakfast – they are welcomed. It is a point of this ministry to treat all with dignity and respect, which is why those volunteering with Mercy Meals and More offer restaurant style breakfast to the guests. It is not a food pantry where people stand in line, get their food, eat and leave.

When guests walk into the church, there are tables set, there are about five breakfast options available to order, and their food is brought to them. This way, each guest has the opportunity to begin the day by making a choice, which, even in a small way, shows them respect as an individual and this gives them a sense of hope.

Because Mercy Meals and More has the guests sit down at tables to eat together, a sense of community has developed among those who come for meals. Through conversation, jobs and apartments are found and relationships are built. For some, it is the only family they have. And it is the guests who now make up most of the volunteers for cooking, serving, and cleaning up after the meals are finished. When someone is not able to come and cook the pancakes, there is always another one ready to step in and help. When someone can’t make the omelets, there is always a replacement. They know the needs and work together to get everything done.

To date Mercy Meals and More has served 75,000 meals. But through networking with others, they have also been able to meet many needs outside of this. A woman once offered to donate clothes, which they do on a regular basis now thanks to the generosity of the people in the Greater New Bedford area. Someone else donated books and Stop & Shop donates bread on a daily basis, which Mercy Meals then shares with other food pantries and programs.

Also, two years ago a student nurse from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth started a foot clinic. On Thursday they begin the clinic by washing the feet of those who come and then checking for sores and blisters. Clean socks are handed out, and Mercy Meals hopes that one day they will be able to provide shoes, also. Many wear ill-fitting shoes, which is the source of some of the problems.

Mercy Meals has also acted as a temporary emergency shelter during the hurricanes Irene and Sandy, and throughout last winter it was open for 24 nights and sheltered over 600 people from the cold. During this time, the generosity of the community was evident as people brought by snacks and donated money to help the church pay for the extra heat while it was open during those nights.

The latest addition to Mercy Meals has been free haircuts on Mondays by a volunteer barber (they are currently looking into a salon that would be willing to give free haircuts to women).

The three founders of Mercy Meals and More are Reverend Dave Hammett, Pastor David Soto, and Reverend Russ Chamberlain. Reverend Russ provided most of the information for this article, and was clear about why this ministry is so important to him: every aspect of this ministry is seen as God doing the work and being the provider. And ultimately, Mercy Meals and More is about building relationships – it’s not necessarily a program to just get a job done, but to meet people, to know their names and their needs, and to bless them.

Mercy Meals and More operates Mondays through Saturdays at 634 Purchase Street in New Bedford. The doors open at 5:45 a.m., meals are served from 6:40 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. , and the doors are closed at 8:15 a.m. The welcome mat is out, the coffee pot is on, and visitors are always welcome. For more information please call Rev. Russ at 508-728-1489 or leave an e-mail message at rev.russ14jc@gmail.com.

I wrote an article last week, Meeting Houses – One of New Bedford’s First Churches, Community Centers, about one of the first churches built in the greater New Bedford area. As I was thinking about the article, I realized I should have first started with giving an explanation of what a church is.

Many different churches exist with many different teachings happening inside of them. Driving around New Bedford alone, you will see churches, a synagogue, a mosque…and then there are rented out buildings, theaters and high schools that act as churches or meeting places, as well.

But why is it that those with a common faith, regardless of what religion they adhere to, commit to meeting together regularly? What is the purpose behind synagogues, mosques, churches or any other area designated for people to come together in?

Here is a little background on three different faiths and how the idea of ‘church’ plays out.

The Synagogue
For the Jew, the synagogue is an important place for prayer and study, specifically.

Many think that Jewish education ends with the bar mitzvah, but Jews who are more serious commit their whole lives to learning.

Many synagogues have libraries of Jewish sacred texts to learn and study from. But the synagogue holds other purposes as well, especially in modern times; they often act as social centers and places where charitable works are carried out. Here are some of the foundational beliefs of the Jew: there is only one God (this belief is called monotheism); people are made in the image of God and, therefore, are equal; the Messiah (Christ) will unite the world in unity and peace one day; they do not believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

This is an important point for the Jew, since they do not believe He has already come; they read and believe only in the Old Testament, and the New Testament does not hold any value for them. They are still waiting for the Messiah’s coming.

The Mosque
For the Muslim, a mosque is the central part of communities and towns. There are strict requirements to making sure a building can truly be considered a mosque in some sects of the Islamic religion.

In Muslim countries mosques are common on most streets, making it easier for Muslim men to meet the requirement of praying five times a day. Muslims believe you can pray anywhere, but the reward will be greater by praying in a mosque. The Qur’an (Koran) is taught here; the Muslim believes that Muhammad was a prophet that received Allah’s final revelation and was then written down and now makes up the chapters and verses in the Qur’an.

Mosques are also used as centers for information and education, and it is also a place where disputes can be settled. Here are some of the foundational beliefs of the Muslim: there is no other god but Allah; the required number of daily prayers has to be met; Ramadan must be observed (a month of fasting during the day, but they are allowed to eat at night); they must give alms (finances); there is one required trip to Mecca during a lifetime; and this last point, still being debated, is the use of violence to promote the Muslim faith. If a Muslim dies fighting this battle, they believe they are guaranteed to go to heaven.

The Church
For the Christian, a specific type of church building or designated meeting place can take different shapes, sizes and forms. Often Christians will meet together in a rented building that meets the specific needs they are looking for, or they will meet in a home, or in a church with a steeple.

So, the building itself is not the most important thing. What is important to the Christian is meeting with God. In the Old Testament God said, “I will be your God, and you will be My people.” The Christian believes God desires to have communion, to meet with His people.

The Old Testament tells the story of how God met this promise in many different ways. And all those ways were pointing to who would come in the New Testament. When Jesus Christ was born and came on the scene in the New Testament, the Christian believes that God truly did meet with man. They believe that Jesus, being God’s Son and equal with God, entered into humanity, walked this earth, and experienced the sorrows common to all mankind. The New Testament tells of how Christ was tempted just like people, but He did not sin. This is why Christ’s life is the Christian’s example to follow. T

he gospels (the first four books of the New Testament) also contain another promise, this time made by Christ – that He would send the Holy Spirit to live inside His people, so God and man could always be in communion. The Christian believes that each individual believer makes up a part of the church. This is why many Christians will meet anywhere to worship, pray, and learn more of God.

Here are some of the foundational beliefs of the Christian: the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are God’s inspired word; salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and His life, death and resurrection for the forgiveness and removal of personal sins; all have sinned and need forgiveness; God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As you drive by places of worship around New Bedford have you thought about the diversity among the many different faiths that are expressed in this city? Have you thought about your own faith?

Throughout the city of New Bedford, you will be able to find many churches, meeting places and houses of worship. These buildings are common enough that it is easy to pass by without taking much, if any, notice of them. Yet, churches, or meeting houses as they were sometimes called long ago, were an important part of the beginnings of New Bedford. Much of the rich cultural and historical events that have taken place in New Bedford over the years can be traced back to small groups of people who got together because of their common faith, and then put that faith into action by changing things around them for the better.

Fast forward a few hundred years to the current city of New Bedford – do we know anything of these churches? Do they still exist? Who began them and what impact did they have?

One of the very first of two churches built in New Bedford was erected by the Friends – we know them as the Quakers now. In 1699 they built their first meeting house on Russells Mills Road.

Now, Russells Mills Road is in Dartmouth, not New Bedford, but in the 1600’s there was no separation between these two places. New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, and a small part of Tiverton and Little Compton were originally purchased as one tract of land, which means, originally, the meeting house was a part of New Bedford.

While the first building is no longer standing, anyone driving along Russells Mills Road today can see where it was. The Apponegansett Meeting House marks the exact location of the first building in this area that was the official meeting house of the small group of Quakers who met there over three hundred years ago (the current building was put up in 1791).

The Quakers were a group of Christians who emigrated from England to America in the late 1680’s. They, like the Pilgrims, believed that all had the right to read the Bible freely, in their own homes, and should not be controlled by the king of England. When they emigrated to America, in part to practice this freedom, they ended up heavily impacting the many areas where they settled, including New Bedford.

They did not believe in doing good works for morality’s sake, rather it was their faith that compelled them to do good for others. A few of their most basic beliefs are that the Bible is truth, each person has access to God through Jesus Christ and not through a hierarchical system of clergy, Jesus’ life is to be emulated and His teachings obeyed, and that people are created equally.

Because of the beliefs they held, they were known to treat women well, to offer work equally to any who were able, and they were highly instrumental in the abolition of slavery both in England and America. New Bedford specifically became a haven for slaves in the mid 1800’s when the Underground Railroad passed through, and this is partly attributed to the Quakers’ racial tolerance seen throughout the area, in the way they lived their lives, and through their outspoken opposition to slavery.

New Bedford and the surrounding areas have some incredibly inspiring land marks, such as the Apponegansett Meeting House, that serve as reminders of the good that has come from groups of people willing to make the lives of others better.