giving
Helping
Hands
Operation Inasmuch Gives
Unto the Least of These
S
Photography by Byron Jones
By Nathan Walls
ue Byrd will tell you that the mission
of Operation Inasmuch is to live up to the Bible
verse the local non-profit is based upon, Matthew
25:40: ���And the King shall answer and say unto
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me.���
That mission is displayed in everything the organization
does. Started 18 years ago as a volunteer group who assisted
others on two Saturdays a month, Operation Inasmuch became an official non-profit in January 2007.
���Everything we do is in the name of Christ,��� Byrd said.
���That���s what we proclaim here.���
Byrd, the executive director of Operation Inasmuch, will
remind you of a sweet mother or grandmother figure who
provides insight on the Golden Rule and why you should do
the right thing. She is fond of saying that God pointed her to
do the work she is doing.
���I didn���t know I wanted to help found Operation Inasmuch,��� Byrd said. ���I had helped coordinate the volunteer
days for 12 years at that point and I knew we needed to do
more. It seemed like when God calls you to do something, you
just go do it. That had never been my dream to work for the
homeless.���
But work for the homeless, she and her staff members certainly have.
With the help of over 80 churches each workday, assistance
from individuals and some funding from the City of Fayetteville, breakfast is served each morning at 531 Hillsboro St. to
the homeless and struggling.
���Breakfast is important, but it���s part of changing a life; it is
part of the beginning of somebody starting again,��� Byrd said.
���We want them to go onto other things, like our computer
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