Union Street Baptist is a Church that Responds to Poverty

Union Street Baptist Church in St. Stephen wanted to introduce missional outreach in the area.  They started asking questions.  Their first question was, “Where is God at work in St. Stephen?”  They quickly discovered the need for healthy meals among St. Stephen youth.  

Union Street’s awareness of food security in St. Stephen came from a couple of sources.  A report focusing on youth needs in Charlotte County highlighted what necessities of life were missing in the lives of youth in the area.  Near the top of the list was a secure and stable food source.  Around this time, Pastor Garth Williams’ wife Heather, the principal at Milltown Elementary School, asked a couple of her students if they were excited about an upcoming four-day long weekend.  They were not.  Perplexed, she asked why.  It turned out that these students counted on school breakfast and lunch programs.  Without school, finding a meal would be tough.

Union Street next asked how to meet the need for food on weekends.  We’ve Got Your Back was the answer.

We’ve Got Your Back provides twenty-seven bags of groceries for students at three St. Stephen schools.  The food has kids in mind, so the program supplies food that young people can prepare on their own.  The program relies on strong partnerships in the community.  Schools identify which children are in need.  The identities of the children remain confidential with respect to Union Street.  Local businesses help to cover the costs of the food.  The Boys and Girls Club got involved to help meet some of the hunger needs among teenagers and to develop a food education program.

Union Street saw that hunger among children is a significant need and realized that it is not a need
that schools and district offices can meet on their own.  The program requires packing teams of ten to twelve people, someone to do the grocery shopping, and others to make food deliveries.  Someone else needed to take on the responsibility of meeting this need.

The church stepped in.  The realization that children are hungry compelled them to do so.  Food for the hungry is one of the answers the church will find when asking where God is at work.

Union Street Baptist Church is a congregation of about 135 people.  For more information about We’ve Got Your Back and other programs, please contact Pastor Garth Williams by phone at 466-3777 or email at drgvw@me.com.

This post was originally part of a newsletter that I co-authored about Saint John area churches and Christian non-profits with poverty reduction services. This is the last post from the articles that I wrote for this project. If you know of other churches and Christian NGOs in the Saint John area, let me know. I'd love to get to know them.