ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 28, 1996 TAG: 9611290005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JUDY SCHWAB STAFF WRITER
This is a small story about those who give and how they do it. It's not about why they do it. That's their secret.
Last Easter, which if you will recall was a cold one, Pat Berger received a call from someone at her church. She had been singing at a sunrise service for another church. It was so cold the event had been moved indoors from the golf course. The call was to tell her the furnace had conked out at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. Berger scrambled around and furnished heat for the morning service by bringing kerosene heaters from home and finding others to bring heaters.
Berger, who is enjoying retirement from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, has been a member of St. Paul's in Blacksburg all her life. She soon found herself on the committee to fund a new heating system.
St. Paul's has been around since 1857 and it now has a small congregation - fewer than 30 members. There is no resident minister. The Rev. Edward Sivelles comes in every weekend from Norfolk to attend to the needs of the congregation. Despite the small number of church members, Berger appears to have had relatively little trouble raising the money to replace the old clunker of a furnace. Berger believes in helping others without fanfare.
That attitude must have spread from her to others, because quiet goodwill is what replaced that old furnace.
For instance, when Berger was singing at the Easter sunrise service she was doing what she has always done, donating her services - or in this case her talent. The service was for a neighbor institution, Blacksburg United Methodist Church.
Berger often sings at the Methodist monthly prayer breakfasts. She was at one of these prayer breakfasts shortly after the old furnace died when Bill Absher asked her if there was anything the Methodists could do for St. Paul's. "It was like the Lord had sent him," Berger said of the timing of the offer. She said yes, they needed a new furnace and any contributions to the fund drive would be appreciated.
The new furnace and air-conditioning system rests in the church basement in a closet adjoining the minister's study. The system occupies perhaps a quarter of the footprint left by the old oil furnace that had been converted from coal. This new marvel cost the church $4,300.
The Rev. Herb Hobbs, minister at Blacksburg United Methodist, said the two churches have been loosely affiliated over the years - inviting each other to various services. Hobbs was the first to mention Berger's name as an instrumental player in accomplishing the furnace replacement.
After Absher asked Berger what they could do to help St. Paul's and thereby uncovered the need for the furnace, Ted Hayman, a member of an outreach group at Blacksburg United Methodist, worked with Berger to get $1,500 from his church to hers.
It's difficult for such a small congregation to raise so much money, but people at St. Paul's gave what they could. However, with a little math it soon became obvious that either each member of St. Paul's had to give a hefty donation or someone else would have to fill the gap. Berger admitted there were some major anonymous donors to the furnace fund, and anonymous they would remain. All Berger would say was that they were friends of hers.
Now in November when the clouds hang like fluffy anvils in the sky and warm clothes have replaced shorts and T-shirts, the members of St. Paul's enjoy the warmth from their new furnace and the warmth of knowing that members of their congregation as well as silent friends are willing to help each other.
It's a time to be grateful. It's time to think about what we choose to do for others and to wonder what our friends and neighbors, our relatives and the strangers we pass in the street do for others that we will never know about.
St. Paul's is on Penn Street, a narrow downtown lane off Roanoke Street and just behind Blacksburg United Methodist Church. Services on Sunday begin at 11 a.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Longtime member Pat Berger was an instrumental playerby CNBin getting the furnace replaced for St. Paul African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Blacksburg. ALAN KIM STAFF color