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Story by Elisabeth Altamirano-Smith

Photos from Providence Baptist Church

During a person’s lifetime, the question, ‘I am just one person, what difference can I really make?’ is usually asked. With so much strife and over-population in the world it is easy to feel small, and that one’s good intentions will never make a significant impact on the goodness of the world. Many choose to not do anything, but one small group in Jemison puts forth a mighty effort and goes the extra mile to reach the multitudes.

A group of seven to 12 women at Jemison’s Providence Baptist Church has year-round monthly projects to help the community. Some projects are seasonal and what you might expect from churches, such as the Lottie Moon Missions Fundraiser every Christmas (which all Baptist churches participate in), but the Providence ladies are busy-bee workers for Christ year round. A unique feature of their ladies group is that they all take a turn leading a monthly project throughout the year, which allows them to use their unique talents as well as keeping the “group facilitator” from feeling tired and overworked.

Chilton County’s Department of Human Resources listed the Providence ladies as one of their most precious resources that were not commonly known.

“There is one group that probably gets little acknowledgement, but provides an invaluable service for foster children,” said DHR worker Trayce Chancellor. “Providence Baptist Church in the north Chilton area provides us with ‘Birthday Cake in a Bag’ every year, for the past several years. This consists of a cake mix, cake pan, can of soda and frosting, along with the instructions to make a cake out of these ingredients. They also include things like candy, balloons, party plates, candles and more. They bring literally hundreds of them, and we give them to foster children on their birthdays. They are absolutely precious, the kids enjoy it so much and it is a literal party in a bag.”

Wanda Vance is the ‘Birthday Cake in a Bag’ coordinator at Providence Baptist Church. She has led the group in the project for the last three years, but said the birthday ministry is much older.

“We put a flyer in our church bulletin so that the ladies know it is time to kick off our birthday bag project,” said Vance. “Each lady makes as many bags as she can. There are certain items that each bag must have including cake mix, a can of soda, frosting and an aluminum pan to bake it in. Each lady can add in something extra to make it unique like candles, streamers, party hats or whatever birthday decorating item she would like.”

The birthday bags are financed by each Providence lady, not by the church.

“We make birthday bags because we want children to know they are loved,” said Vance. “You are somebody and you are loved by someone. We make as many as we can. Last year we made 70 bags, but there are currently 136 children in foster care in Chilton County.”

The Providence ladies work on birthday bags until the end of January and then deliver them to Chilton DHR.

February’s project is led by Debra Weeks. The group cooks lunch for university students and takes it to the University of Montevallo. Since many of the students are away from home, the ladies prepare home-cooked meals and serve the students themselves as a way to say, “I see you continuing your education. We are proud of you.”

Other monthly projects include providing snacks to all Jemison Elementary School students year round, distributing school supplies to those in need at Jemison Elementary, fundraising for CareNet Baby Bottles and providing backpacks of supplies to at-risk children to use during the Christmas holidays. December’s monthly project consists of gifting a throw blanket to every resident at Hatley Nursing Home. This last December, the Providence ladies delivered 94 blankets in total.

They also help host seasonal community events such as an Easter egg hunt, fall festival and a Christmas shoebox ministry, which is organized in June by Cathy Moxley.

The Providence ladies’ ministry group might be small in number, but their intentional care impacts hundreds each year.

“We have a wonderful church and community,” said Vance, “and we love to help any way we can.”

For more information, contact Providence Baptist Church at 205-668-1270.