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Church parking near stadiums scores big in win-win for congregations and sports fans_我的网站

A |     CHESTER, Pa. -- The Eagles and the NFL might still be the sports favorites at Calvary Baptist Church, just outside Philadelphia. But many here are also rooting for a neighboring team which last year reached the championship game of Major League Soccer.Their new-found fandom is all about location — and revenue from parking. The Philadelphia Union plays at Subaru Park, a stadium beside the Delaware River just a few blocks from Calvary in the economically challenged city of Chester. Its poverty rate is among the highest in the metro area.As the Union continues to attract loyal fans and reach new heights, so have the blessings bestowed on this historic church where Martin Luther King Jr. attended as a seminarian.It has been crucial. Like many other Black Protestant churches, Calvary Baptist struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance fell, and along with it, funding. But the church has transformed its parking lot to accommodate game-day fundraisers, with volunteers from the congregation staffing the lots and selling spaces for $15 per vehicle.These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.“It’s been a blessing,” said Dickens, who on a recent game day proudly sported a Philadelphia Union hat. "Not only just to generate funding, but also to meet and minister to new people.”Across the nation, houses of worship located near stadiums — from Boston’s Fenway Park to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field — have opened their parking lots to legions of fans.For churches offering parking near pro-soccer stadiums, their coffers recently received an assist from the world’s best active player, Lionel Messi who joined an MLS roster this year. All 250 parking spaces at the Calvary lot were full when Messi’s Inter Miami played the Union.Jeffrey Scholes, co-author of “Religion and Sports in American Culture,” said churches like Calvary show a growing willingness to use “secular entities like sport for religious purposes” including, “continuing a ministry, feeding the poor, keeping the lights on, things that ideally churches do."In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly."“There’s just much more openness to different kinds of nonreligious tactics to perform the necessary functions of a church or synagogue or mosque,” Scholes said. It also offers an opportunity to share with fans the history of congregations like Calvary, which was founded in 1879 by a group of formerly enslaved Africans seeking freedom to worship.On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary. Chester has a notable cultural and industrial history, but now has economic difficulties that make Calvary's new parking revenue all the more appreciated.“For us, if it gives back to a cause, it makes it all the better,” Abe Gitterman, age 37 and Jewish, said before he paid the parking fee. Next to him, his 6-and 7-year-old sons pointed to the mural and asked parking attendant and church member Lisa Lewis if this was the same man they had learned about in school. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “It feels good,” she later said, “to tell them the history about the church.”It can also be fun. In Lubbock, Texas, Leslie Cranford, a parishioner at St. John’s United Methodist Church, said Texas Tech football fans have tailgated with RVs — taking up to four spots ($10 each) — in the church parking lot, near the Red Raiders' Jones AT&T Stadium. Sometimes, rival fans park at the church. “We tell them: we got to charge you extra!” Cranford said, laughing. She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said. "So, this helps us maintain our ministries.” In Boston, the Christian Science Church opened its parking garage to the public in 2014. That includes Red Sox fans who can park for $30 — a lower rate than closer to Fenway Park. Kevin Ness, manager of the Christian Science Committees on Publication, said the revenue helps cover the operating expenses of Christian Science Plaza, a popular tourist attraction which sits on top of the garage in the Fenway neighborhood. “This in turn allows the contributions from members to directly support the worldwide healing mission of the church,” he said. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bethany Church began its Packers parking program in 2010.“We thought it would be a great avenue for outreach, and a way to get funds to help support the growing ministries,” Bethany’s administrative assistant, Jill Connerym said via email. The church doesn’t have a set charge, and instead asks for donation, Connery said, adding that “many people are very generous.”Packers parking helps fund programs, including youth ministries, small group learning and building facility upgrades, Connery said. The church parking lot is often full on game days.“We are known for our hospitality,” she said. “We had a volunteer who began giving rides to Lambeau from our parking lot, free of charge to whoever didn’t want to walk the .5 miles to the stadium. So, now we are known for our shuttle service, and friendly volunteers.”Churches also have embraced other fans. Nashville First Church of the Nazarene offered their parking lots for three shows attended by thousands at nearby Nissan Stadium during the Nashville leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The parking program ($30 a spot) also is popular during Tennessee Titans games and has helped fund ministries in Nashville and missions in Haiti and Kenya.“Every one of these dollars comes right back in to help people,” said its senior pastor, Kevin Ulmet. “When people hear that, they love that, they say ‘we want to be a part of that.’ And that, to me, is the classic definition of win-win.”__Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.。

B |     《日报》全媒体记者薛利超  王岩  周莉  崔迪          　　今年以来，兴城市坚持实用导向、融合导向、需求导向，聚焦关心关注老年人、失业待业人员、新业态从业人员等特殊群体，精心打造“老年助餐店”“爱心驿站”“梦想起航‘孵化巢’”，丰富城市党建服务“微载体”，让基层治理不仅有招法，更有温度。         　　“小驿站”蕴藏“大温暖”          　　党建引领让新就业群体融入城市家园          　　走进宁远街道河畔社区爱心驿站，“家”的感觉扑面而来，这里环境干净整洁、温暖舒适。休息座椅、微波炉、饮水机、医疗急救包、工具箱、报刊书籍等设施用品一应俱全，为环卫工人、外卖员、快递员等户外工作群体及过往群众提供免费服务。大家可以来这里喝水、充电、休息、阅览图书，从“小微”贴心服务做起，打造群众身边的“便民休息圈”。外卖员吴晓宇是驿站的“常客”，进门便熟练地坐到靠墙的座椅上给手机充电，“这里是我的‘紧急充电站’，以前送餐的时候可没这好地方，现在这儿不仅可以给手机充电，还可以给饭加热，自己也能休息一下，方便多了。

C | ”          　　目前，兴城市结合快递小哥、外卖骑手活动轨迹等重点区域，按照就近就便原则，利用社区党群服务中心场地建设爱心驿站6处，让更多的户外劳动者有需求时能够找到驿站、找到组织，解决他们的“小事情”“小难题”。同时，快递员、外卖员等新业态群体也主动参与到社区治理中来，做社区“流动网格员”“兼职信息员”，为社区矛盾调处、安全隐患排查、环境整治等工作献计出力。今年以来，他们向社区提出的意见中有38条被采纳。         　　“小食堂”彰显“大爱心”          　　党建引领让老年人安享幸福晚年          　　今年以来，兴城市深入推进老年助餐暖心工程，鼓励各类市场主体参与老年助餐服务，探索“党建引领+餐饮企业+老年助餐+志愿服务”的模式，建立老年助餐服务的长效机制。

D | ?          　　临近中午时分，贺大娘老年助餐店内饭菜飘香，20余种荤素搭配的菜肴可随意挑选。这是为65周岁以上老年人提供的助老午餐，每位老人享受全部菜品7折优惠。“在这里吃饭环境好，每天饭菜还不重样，又很方便，钱存在卡里后，过来刷一下就行了，都不用每次掏钱。”在这里用餐的老人刘永高兴地说。         　　截至目前，兴城市共建立老年助餐点6个，提供“堂食+上门助餐”服务1000余人次，在餐饮加工关键环节实施“明厨亮灶”，接受公众监督，有效解决了老人做饭难、吃饭难问题，让子女在外放心、老人在家暖心。

E |          　　“小巢穴”解决“大问题”          　　党建引领让失业待业人员重启职业航程          　　兴城市致力于打造充分就业社区，搭建梦想起航“孵化巢”，通过精细化网格管理，了解辖区居民、毕业未就业大学生情况，建立就业管理台账。         　　居住在温泉社区的李辰，近期因为失业断了生活来源，心情焦虑，情绪急躁，经常与妻子发生口角，邻里相处也不愉快。社区网格员得知后，第一时间上门了解具体情况。将李辰的个人信息、擅长领域等仔细登记，再与锦晟驾校要求进行匹配，很快便帮助李辰在驾校找到了合适工作。李辰感激地说，“多亏了社区的帮助，让我的生活又回到了正常轨道，心情敞亮多了。”          　　兴城市集合社区、街道力量与市委组织部、市人社局、市就业中心、市人才中心和辖区企业联系，开展联合招聘会，组建社区就业信息微信群，及时将就业信息精准推送，对辖区内“零就业”家庭进行帮扶，为6名居民找到了工作岗位。

F |          　　把党组织的作用发挥好，把老百姓的需求解决好，是破解基层治理难题的关键。创新工作思路、丰富工作内容，以各具亮点的党建服务“微载体”打造，有效激发基层治理“红色效能”，让特殊群体感受到实实在在的温暖和关怀，使兴城市服务特殊群体举措更具体，更有“力量”和“温度”。

G | 接下来，兴城市将结合“我为群众办实事”“幸福新社区创建”等活动，进一步完善养老服务体系，优化新就业群体服务体系，健全就业帮扶体系，全面提升基层服务水平，实现城市建设成果人人共享，不断增强人民群众的获得感、幸福感、安全感。

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