As Mother’s Day approaches – and the annual statewide offering associated with it – South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging has announced the names of two retirees who will benefit directly from last year’s offering.
Martha Franks administrator Dina Hair and Henry Rogers.Henry Rogers, a retired pastor, and Margaret Atkinson, a 94-year-old “humble, modest” servant, are receiving financial assistance from a fund that was instituted by SCBMA’s board of trustees last year. Money for the fund comes from the Mother’s Day Offering, which in previous years was used for capital improvements. In 2008, South Carolina Baptists gave more than $280,000 to support Ministries for the Aging, most of it through the Mother’s Day Offering.
In late 2008, Rogers, of Gray Court, was admitted to Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Community in Laurens. Rogers served 43 years as a minister, 39 in Laurens County. “He was a wonderful pastor to many in his small rural churches,” said Dina Hair, administrator at Martha Franks.
“Rev. Rogers had close ties with the facility through the years and hoped that one day he could call Martha Franks home, just as his father and mother and mother-in-law had,” Hair said.
Rogers’ wife, Marguerite, passed away in the rehabilitation center at Martha Franks after an extended illness. After his wife’s death, he applied for admission to residential care and, “because of the Mother’s Day Offering, he was able to fulfill his dream of becoming a resident,” Hair said.
“Rev. Rogers is most appreciative of South Carolina Baptists who gave so that he could live out his retirement years in a community of love, care and faith,” said Hair. “He tells people that Martha Franks is as close as you can get to heaven without dying.”
Bethea administrator Ben Spurling, left, with Margaret Atkinson and Denley Caughman, pastor of Marion Baptist Church.Within the next few weeks, Atkinson, of Marion, will move to Bethea Baptist Retirement Community in Darlington. She has been living in an assisted living facility that will soon close, and she has no place to go, said Ben Spurling, administrator at Bethea.
Spurling said Atkinson visited Bethea many times through the years and has a family member living there now. “She witnessed the compassionate care given at Bethea and desired to be a resident there,” Spurling said.
The members of Marion Baptist Church, where Atkinson is a member, called a special business meeting and voted to write a letter of endorsement for her to receive funds from the Mother’s Day Offering. Her church family described her as “humble, modest and one who has given her life to follow and serve Jesus in any way that she could.”
“At 94 years old, she still has a desire to minister to the residents at Bethea in her own special way,” Spurling said.
Hair said she is pleased that two people have been accepted as residents due to the “generosity of South Carolina Baptists” through their gifts to the Mother’s Day Offering. Spurling said he hopes South Carolina Baptists will give again this year so others can receive assistance.
In March, SCBMA trustees hired Tom Turner of Greenville as president of the ministry. Turner, who has 14 years of experience in senior living management, will begin his duties May 1. He succeeds Richard McLawhorn, who resigned in September 2008 to become pastor of Garden City Baptist Church.