RICHMOND — Russell Caine wanted a job. He had applied at numerous businesses but could not get an interview without valid identification. Without a driver’s license, Caine needed a photo ID, but he did not have money to purchase one or transportation to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for one. Yet he desperately wanted a job.
So he went to the Church Hill Christian Wellness Center in Richmond’s East End and talked with Glinda Ford, its community missionary. The Center, also referred to as “The Well,” is a ministry of the Richmond Baptist Association, and since 2005 has provided assistance to residents in obtaining birth certificates and DMV photo IDs.
The Richmond Baptist Association van is filled and waiting to depart for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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“Having some form of photo identification is a basic need today,” said Ford. Applying for a job, obtaining housing, receiving medical treatment, cashing a check, enrolling in school programs and requesting public assistance are only a few instances where photo identification is essential. And a valid birth certificate is needed to apply for an ID, she said.
Once or twice a month, depending on the availability of a driver, the Well transports a van of people to the DMV where they receive help with the application, if needed, and the fee for their ID is paid.
“It’s first-come, first-served and Russell was a little late getting here that day, putting him at the back of the line,” said Ford.” By the time he made it to the front, all seats on the van were filled.
Yet Caine was determined and asked Ford if he could catch the bus to the DMV office if she could still assist him. She promised she would. Later that afternoon he left DMV with photo identification and on his way home stopped at one of the businesses where he previously applied. He was granted an interview and got a job.
Two women with the paperwork needed to obtain a photo ID wait at The Well for the bus to the Department of Motor Vehicles to depart.
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“It was a blessing to him and to us to know that Russell had employment and an opportunity to improve his life,” said Ford. She also tells of a young man that the Well assisted in obtaining an ID who later came back to thank her. He told her that he been stopped by police and asked for identification. Being able to show his photo ID allowed him to pass with no problem and he was grateful for the Well’s ministry.
“Without documents of identification, usually containing a photograph, individuals cannot obtain many of the services they require to survive. The road to re-entering society on a productive level is appreciably lengthened,” said Mike Robinson, RBA director of missions. “This simple but significant service expands the homeless person’s world and increases immensely his or her probability of improving their situation.”
From November 2008 to September 2012, the Church Hill Christian Wellness Center, assisted 203 persons in receiving birth certificates and DMV identifications, said Ford. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, documents such as birth records that are used as proof of identity need to be authenticated by, in Virginia, the Office of Vital Records. So many times the first step in the process, said Ford, is obtaining a valid birth certificate.
The Well offers many ministries, including a food pantry that distributed a total of 1,223 food bags that served 2,091 adults and 1,075 children in 2012. Its Back-to-School Celebration provided 440 backpacks with school supplies and toiletries to children last year and its annual Christmas Store provided toys, clothes, bikes, coats and many other items to 260 children in 2011. These ministries are made possible by the support of churches in the Richmond Baptist Association, she said.
“Our community missionaries demonstrate the heart of Christ to people who are sometimes thrust into situations they never expected and for which they are ill-prepared,” said Robinson. “The persons to whom we minister are often estranged from family and cut off from those who once loved them. They are vulnerable and broken, among ‘the least of these’ spoken of in the New Testament book of Matthew. Our missionaries treat of them with respect and afford them the dignity they often are unable to find elsewhere,” he said.
Barbara Francis (bfrancis@religiousherald.org) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.