By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As the hamburgers sizzled on the grill, the guitarists played simple Sunday School songs. Gathered in a circle were families of Maurer Mobile Home Court and members of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Bowling Green.
Every Wednesday this summer – when it’s not raining or too swelteringly hot – Pastor Robin Small and members of her congregation take some meals and ministry on the road to the mobile home park north of Bowling Green.
The menu includes hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, apples and cookies. The message is that the down-trodden residents of the mobile home park matter.
“I just do the grilling,” church member Doug Niekamp said as he flipped the burgers. “It’s a really positive thing.”
Transportation is scarce for residents there, “so we bring food and services out here,” Niekamp said.
Last Wednesday, under towering shade trees, the group of nearly 30 people gathered in a grassy patch, circling around Pastor Small and St. Mark’s music director Josh Billnitzer.
“He makes anything fun,” Small said of Billnitzer. Together, the two of them sang songs that probably struck a chord with many of the adults at the trailer park.
“We try to be here every week,” said Jordan McGowan, whose four daughters squeezed into two lawn chairs in the circle. “It teaches my kids new things and keeps them involved.”
Kevin Jewell, watching the circle as he leaned against a pickup truck, said this was the first Wednesday meal he had been able to attend.
“They’re trying to make our community a little bit nicer,” Jewell said.
Baelea Bunting, 14, is a regular at the gatherings. “It was good,” she said of her hamburger. But it’s more than the food that gets Baelea there each week.
“I don’t socialize much. We don’t have a car,” she said. “It’s nice, them coming out here to see us.”
Lawrence Gonzales waited his turn for a hamburger. “I made sure all the kids ate first,” he said.
As the food was grilled, Small led a few prayers, read short passages from the Bible, and asked people to share “God moments” they experienced in the past week.
The Wednesday meals are an extension of the weekly meals for community members and college students held in the other seasons of the year at St. Mark’s church, near the BGSU campus.
“We are getting outside the church walls,” Small said.
The mission work goes beyond the meals. Members of the church have spent time at the mobile home park rebuilding decks, tearing down old sheds, helping with a community garden, and providing transportation when possible.
It’s not uncommon for the trailer park residents to walk the nearly five miles to get groceries at Kroger on the north side of Bowling Green. Some have to walk to their jobs even further in the city.
“We can come out and do good things, and build a deck,” Small said. “But building relationships is even more important.”
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church members decided to focus on the trailer park neighborhood since many of the children there attend Crim Elementary School, which is located right next to the church. Both the neighborhood and the school represent lower income residents of Bowling Green.
“We feel called upon to walk alongside our neighbors,” Small said.
Another regular at last week’s meal was Karla Davis-McGowan, a social worker who Small referred to as the “patron saint” of the Maurer Mobile Home Court. Davis-McGowan is very aware that the term “trailer trash” is tossed around about the people who live in such settings. But these are neighbors who have made some mistakes, had tough starts in life, or fell on hard times.
“These are our people,” she said.
Working together with the current owner of the trailer court, Allan Steinke, Davis-McGowan has helped the neighborhood become a home for people down on their luck, or those who need second chances.
While the country setting for the trailer park is quiet, surrounded by farmfields, and shaded by mature trees, many of the homes have seen much better days.
Of the 350 trailer sites in the park, an estimated 125 are occupied – and many need serious repairs. Davis-McGowan has helped several residents with repairs and power washing.
She heaped praise on the current owner of the trailer park, Allan Steinke, who mows the grass, fixes the trailers, and works with people facing crises.
For some, the mobile home court is a last resort for those who need a little help getting back on course, and need affordable emergency housing, she said.
“You can get an opportunity here,” she said.
… And ministry from their neighbors in the form of a burger and Sunday School songs on Wednesdays.
