Marjorie Rorie and her family are bundled in warm clothes and coats. The threat of snow flurries and a chilling wind has not kept church members from coming out to serve. The fourth-Sunday service at the church her husband Terry pastors is replaced with feeding the hungry in the community.
“My passion to serve the disadvantaged is rooted in my Christian devotion and my childhood,” Rorie says. “My parents made me and my siblings aware of those in our community who needed a hand.”
Rorie is the director of the new Bob & Carolyn Tucker Greater Vision Outreach Ministry. The initial Tucker Center will be located on the Mills Home campus in Thomasville. The Center will help families struggling with poverty by meeting essential physical and spiritual needs. The groundbreaking for the 10,000 square foot building/warehouse took place in 2016 and will be operational this year. Rorie says the Center will serve clients mainly through volunteers.
Clients will find food, resources, education and training, and referrals to a wide variety of faith and community-based organizations. The Center will offer qualified individuals food items and access to the Center’s Marketplace where clothes, hygiene products, and a limited amount of furniture will be available through a voucher system based on each client’s needs.
“We are building the Center from a vision rooted with BCH’s president Dr. Blackwell,” she says. “We are taking that vision and constructing it first in our minds, then we’re transferring it to paper, and finally we are making it a reality.”
Rorie says her entrepreneurial experience has helped prepare her for the job. She says when one begins something that has never existed before, one has to make the unseen visible.
“Your faith grows when you step out,” Rorie says. “I’ve learned the good is always close behind. With every challenge, there is always a greater purpose.”
This is the same philosophy Rorie and husband Terry embrace in ministry. They are church planters and are part of the Baptist State Convention of NC. The couple began the CARE Discipleship Mission in High Point. Their Christ-centered love is at the heart of the couple’s 13-year marriage and extends to the children in their care. The couple are parents to their adopted daughter Nija, their developmentally disabled nephew Erik, and two foster sisters Ricanna and Nakiah.
Partnerships with local faith and community-based organizations are a major part of the new ministry. Through the Tucker Center, nonprofits will be able to network with each other, share resources and benefit from education opportunities.
“The Tucker Center will work with partners at the intersection of services and need,” Rorie says. “It is imperative for us to work closely with established organizations – encouraging them, providing help where and when we can, and tapping into their volunteer base. Helping them strengthen their mission helps those that we all serve. Partnering is a key strategy in meeting needs of those who will come to the Tucker Center.”
On February 14, the ministry awarded community mini grants at a special program honoring the men and women who serve their community. (See page 6.) In March, the ministry will begin an educational series in partnership with Davidson County Community College. The monthly events will go through November and cover fundamentals of nonprofits, grant writing, board development, budgeting, and financial management.
“God is so good,” Rorie says. “It is amazing to see how He has brought all my experiences together for this task. I look forward to the the days ahead.”
Learn more about the services BCH has to offer at www.bchfamily.org