Photo by Erin Nelson.
Vestavia Hills Baptist app
Assistance listings are seen on the Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children website Jan. 17.
After years of seeing firsthand the state of poverty in which some Alabama mothers and children live, Vestavia Hills Baptist Church Pastor Gary Furr has helped create a website and app to help connect people in need to resources that provide help, specifically to mothers and children.
“As a pastor, I’ve always had a heart for children,” Furr said. “If Christians are going to show their value for young life, we have to do more than just talk about political issues. We have to do something to enhance the quality of that life so that people don’t feel so desperate about their children.”
The website, achmc.com, includes hundreds of listings of resources ranging from churches, the Jefferson County Department of Health and other nonprofits, all of which provide help to people in general, and specifically to mothers and children, Furr said.
The Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children is a nonprofit Furr formed with others, and he received help in creating the website, which was recently launched as a free phone app, from others both inside and outside of the church.
Furr bought an eDirectory program, and a layman, inspired by one of Furr’s sermons, helped put together the listings, Furr said. There are about 600 organizations listed on the website. Eventually, Furr said, users can search geographically for help closest to them, and work is continually being done to improve the service.
Those in need can simply search for the kind of help they need, choose a resource and find contact information for them, saving them time scouring the internet looking for something, Furr said. The resource could also come in handy for those who run into people who need help. If they aren’t able to help someone in need, they can direct them to the website or the app where they can find help, Furr said.
The advisory board of the nonprofit includes two pediatricians and a former health researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Four events where community leaders will be invited to learn about the app and how to use it will be held in 2020 in Birmingham, Montgomery, Marion and Tuscaloosa, Furr said. “I just hope it’ll make it easier,” he said.
Eventually, Furr wants there to be public information about the website and app in libraries and in other public places, so anyone, regardless of where they are, can access help.
Furr said it’s important for the church to take the lead on helping people.
“Alabama is a very religious state,” Furr said. “We ought to be the people most intolerant of child poverty.”
Instead of simply talking more and more about helping others, Furr said he wanted to take action, something he believes other people in the state want to do, despite how much division he said he sees in the country and in the state right now.
“I’m in my 60s,” Furr said. “I don’t want to discuss things anymore. … I think people in their heart of hearts want to … solve problems. … There’s some incredible people in this state doing stuff.”
