Eden ministry faces uncertain future

The Ministry of Help, a charitable organization in Eden, needs some help from the community. The tenants have moved out of the church building that the Ministry of Help founder’s family owns, and the family needs to find someone to buy or rent the building in order to continue the ministry.

“We’re trying to get it rented or sold so we can keep the money coming in so we can help people,” said Evangelist Rainie Slade, founder of the Ministry of Help. “We’ve been doing this for such a long time and we want to be able to continue to do it.”

Slade began the Ministry of Help approximately 20 years ago. She said the ministry was “a vision that God gave me to do.”

Slade and her family operate the Ministry of Help primarily out of their home. The ministry does a major giveaway of food, clothes and toys at Christmas time, mainly through donations from the community. But the ministry also hands out food various times during the week to people in need.

Slade and her husband Curtis have four refrigerators at their home that stay stocked with “meat, canned food, the basics,” said Slade, who restocks once a month with items from the food bank near Bassett, Va., Sam’s Club and food that she finds on sale at the grocery store.
“When I go to get my regular groceries, if I see something on sale, I’ll pick it up,” she said.

The high unemployment rate in Rockingham County has increased the need for ministries like the Ministry of Help. Slade said her daughter Shernika, who helps her with the ministry, knows some people who have been laid off from their jobs who come to get extra food because food stamps don’t last them through the end of the month.

“Sometimes you can’t do it all,” said Slade. “We have paid people’s utility bills at some point, too.”

Nancy Bodurant and Judy Mabe, both of Eden, regularly receive food from the Ministry of Help.

“She’s God’s gift to me,” said Mabe.

Bodurant said the ministry is “a blessing” to her and she considers Slade as close as a family member.

“Everybody knows when she gives them stuff, she gives it from her heart,” said Bodurant. “We don’t think of her as a worker. We think of her as a sister.”

Because of the help Bodurant receives from the ministry, she lends a helping hand whenever she can. She passed out hot dogs and drinks to people at last year’s Christmas giveaway. Slade said she saw the rewards of all the years of helping others after her recent toe surgery. She said people have been taking care of her just as she has taken care of them.

“The people I’ve helped have come back and helped me,” said Slade. “I didn’t know so many people cared.”

Slade keeps her ministry going mainly through donations from the community and yard sales that her family has once a month. But she said the revenue from the sale or rent of the church building her family owns on Black Bottom Road, just off Center Church Road on the outskirts of Eden, would be a tremendous help to the ministry.

The building previously housed a non-denominational church, “Miracles In Motion.” The building has a sanctuary, vestibule, office, fully furnished kitchen and fellowship hall in the basement. Slade wants a non-profit organization to rent or buy the building, but it doesn’t have to be a church.

“They can use it for a youth center or whatever they want to use it for,” she said. “We’ll sell it at a reasonable price.”

Those interested in renting or buying the church building can contact Slade at (336) 623-5231 or (336) 432-6633. To make a donation to the ministry, send it to Ministry of Help, c/o Evangelist Rainie Slade, 1202 E. Meadow Road, Eden, NC 27288.