At Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Pastor Bryant Bacon is hoping a new outreach ministry will create a sense of connectivity amongst the entire Niles community.

It’s called the $50 Friend Ministry, and it is “an outreach ministry, reaching out to the community,” Bacon said.

“This is open to anyone,” he added.

Both members and non-members of the church can fill out an application to nominate someone they know as a $50 friend.

Nominations can vary, from someone in need to someone who has made a difference in another person’s life.

The reasons to nominate are endless. Those who want to do so can call or stop by the church to fill out an application, which allows for a description as to why they feel their nomination should be chosen.

Submissions are then reviewed by a specialized committee, Bacon said. The winner is announced during the pastor’s Sunday morning broadcast on WSMK, 99.1.

Each week another $50 friend is chosen. The winners can contact Bacon at the church and he will give them the details on how to collect their prize.

Bacon learned about the idea from a friend of his who was doing the same thing as part of his own ministry, and he said it embraces the goal of the church to give back to the community.

“I don’t always want to take from the community, I want to give back to the community,” he said. “So it’s not just that people bring things to the church; we want it to be that the church can bring to the community as well.”

The church isn’t the only organization making these rewards possible. Mount Calvary has partnered with Tyler Automotive and Brown Funeral Home to make the $50 Friend Ministry possible. Private donors and other businesses, including Halbritter Funeral Home, have also donated to the ministry.

“It’s good that we can have a partnership with the business community and the spiritual community,” he said.

Bacon added he hopes to develop partnerships with more businesses so as to increase the $50 Friend Ministry to two winners per week.

“So we can help people — period,” he said. “We really want to make this bigger.”
The hope is to reach beyond the walls of the church, Bacon said.

“The beauty of this is that it’s not always someone who is in need of money,” he added. “The nomination can be for anything, for any reason. We want to generate a camaraderie with the community, with the people. We don’t want it just to be about Mount Calvary.”

The ministry began in February, and Bacon said they’ve continued to announce a winner each week.

It’s also just the latest in initiatives to give back to the community, he said. Mount Calvary also operates a food pantry twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., as well as collecting clothing for those in need.

“I think we can get more positive results in our community if we start searching for the good things that are happening,” Bacon said.

To pick up an application, stop by Mount Calvary Baptist Church, 601 Ferry St., or call 683-0243.

Pastor Bacon’s Sunday morning broadcast, “Through the Word,” airs from 8 to 8:30 a.m. on 99.1, WSMK.