New Focus of Benton, a local nonprofit organization, recently received the OK from Benton city officials to begin a voluntary recycling program in the city.
Though this in itself would be an admirable goal, said New Focus organizer Nate Bienhoff, the program is about much more than recycling discarded items.
Bienhoff, pastor of First Church of the Nazarene in Benton, said the program is about helping people — often people who have made poor choices — help themselves. In the broadest sense of the word, it could be considered a form of human recycling.
New Focus of Benton officially began in October 2006 amidst cries for help, Bienhoff explained.
“It started off with myself ... Gary Beck, one of our church board members, and Barbara Parker, an active attender at the church,” he said.
Prior to the organization of New Focus, the Benton Nazarene Church was receiving “many calls from people that needed help,” Bienhoff said.
“At that time, we had a food pantry which served many who were hungry,” he noted. “However, I always felt guilty giving them a bag of food and sending them on their way. Of course, we were helping them with their immediate need, but we soon realized that there was a deeper need at stake.”
Many of those helped would return and need help again the next month or the month after and so on, he said. “I began to feel a burning desire to go beyond that.”
He pointed out that the church motto is “A Church That Cares! Loving God and Loving Others.”
“I felt that if we were to be what we said we were, then we must face the underlying issues at stake,” Bienhoff said.
This realization led to meetings with many of the struggling individuals, he said. “We began to hear their stories, have Bible devotionals and help them with their need, too.
“Obviously, this began to take up a lot of time,” he said. “However, we began to see some exciting results from our efforts. As we continued on, we realized that the problem at hand was much larger than our church.”
Thus, the new organization formed. “Since we decided it would take a community-wide effort, we enlisted the help of other credible leaders in this community.
“We asked for the help of a professional CPA firm; we asked for the involvement of a lawyer, Bobby McCallister); someone from the Hometown Health Coalition, Eydie Abercrombie; someone already involved in a credible nonprofit agency that was currently functioning to meet some special needs in our community, Oveta Pledger, who oversees the Back to School Picnic project that provides backpacks and school supplies for youngsters; and Clarissa Grant, our grant writer.”
A decision also was made to move away from the individual church standpoint. “We felt it would be more advantageous to involve our community’s spiritual leaders — local pastors — in this process,” Bienhoff said.
Many meetings, applications and long hours of prayer followed, he said. “We came up with an idea that we proposed to many leaders in this community.” Those leaders included ministers involved in the Saline County Ministerial Alliance, members of the Hometown Health Coalition and finally the Benton City Council. “Throughout this process we have seen many highs and lows as many do in any grassroots organization.
“Our purpose statement became clearly defined,” he said. “Our purpose is to provide employment and faith-based, life-skills training,” he said.
The next question remained: How could this be accomplished?
“We looked over our community and saw the potential that recycling could have in raising substantial revenue to support the efforts of this program,” Bienhoff said. “The country’s current economic status was taken into consideration and it was agreed that for an organization of this style, we could not always be dependent on grant funding as many nonprofits depend.”
He does believe, however, that some grant money will be available. The organization, however, is just beginning to explore these options, he said.
“We just don’t want to depend on grant assistance totally,” he added.
He said the overall aim of New Focus, with the blessing of leaders in the community, is to begin a voluntary recycling program that can provide employment for people who are focused on changing their lives for the better.
“The focus of New Focus of Benton is on helping people help people. We feel that, with the many resources available in this community, we can effectively help those who earnestly desire a ‘new focus’ in life.
“Our desire is to offer the opportunity for each individual to fulfill the potential that God has given every human being to succeed — to help people break through life cycles of poverty and rise above their circumstances, all with the help of an almighty God.”
Bienhoff believes an effective program that will work perfectly for this particular area can be pulled together, largely because of the recognition of the IRS as a nonprofit organization, the backing of the Benton City Council, the board of New Focus, a privilege license from the city of Benton, and the support of many citizens throughout this community.
“Our plan is to utilize the Internet, our local newspapers, the local cable station, and radio stations to communicate with the community our steps as we proceed,” he said.
Partner organizations of New Focus include New Focus National (a Campus Crusade for Christ ministry located in Michigan), Charity Check (an online benevolent abuse awareness software based out of Elizabethtown, Tenn.), Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (located in Lanexa, Kan., and partnered with World Vision), and Central Arkansas Development Council of Benton.
Member organizations of New Focus currently include Benton First Church of the Nazarene, Saline County Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Association and the Christian Community Care Clinic.
“We are excited about what God has done so far in the development of New Focus of Benton,” Bienhoff said. “Our organization is about receiving those in need, developing a volunteer program, researching recyclables that can generate revenue that will help those in need and receiving grant donors. We are taking all options into consideration.”
Bienhoff believes the program will develop a creditable reputation “if we do what we should.”
“A lot of what we’ll be doing will be based on trial and error, but we are getting some direction from New Focus International,” he said. “We realize we could fall flat on our face, but at least we’re trying to be part of the solution.”
Bienhoff said he and others on his board are aware that a person will not change simply because another person tells him he should. “We want to help them rise above their circumstances by walking alongside them and helping them break their cycle of poverty ... We want to give them a tool to help.”
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