By Brittney Mangum
Reporter
“Find a good church, and get into church. Your church family is going to be a big support system. If you need help or need to talk to somebody, then find somebody,” advised Bethany Morgan. “If you’re in a position to listen to people, then just be there for people. You don’t know what kind of problems people have every day, so just be nice to everybody. You may be the only person that day that’s nice and may be the only little bit of love someone else can see.”
Bethany Morgan has a giving heart and genuinely loves people. She has a strong faith in God and does her bet to let the Lord shine through her each day.
She was provided a Christian education when she first started attending school, and it made a huge impact on her life. It was through the faith she developed that she had the strength to do something that typically terrifies her: get in front of people instead of staying out of sight.
“I was a very sheltered child. Calvary Church in Meridian had a school, Calvary Christian School on Eighth Street, and it only went grades one through six. I went there all the way through sixth grade. Every Wednesday, they would have chapel. The church was having a revival, so an evangelist was there that week. He came that Wednesday to talk to us at chapel, and he was one of the ones to preach Hell to you. I was in the fifth grade, and it scared me to death,” Bethany reminisced. “When I got home, I started talking to my daddy, and he went through some of the stuff with me and told me that Jesus loves me. Later on, I went back to my daddy and told him I wanted Jesus in my heart. He prayed with me, and that night I asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me. We were going to a little church, and I remember being scared to death about having to go down to the front because I’ve always been one who wanted to be more in the background. I was used to people making fun of me about my weight, so I didn’t want to be in the front. I was scared to death and holding onto the pew while everyone was singing. Daddy looked down at me and just stepped out of the pew and stepped back in when I started walking to the front to announce to the church that I accepted Jesus in my heart.”
She started attending public school once she was in the seventh grade. By her senior year in high school, her dad moved to Quitman to begin a new career, but she wanted to remain at the school she had been in instead of changing schools to graduate. In the middle of the senior year, something happened that made her decide that she did want to move to Quitman to finish school here: a boy.
“I went to school at Southeast Lauderdale until my senior year of high school. My dad moved down here because he got a postmaster job down here in 1983. That was my senior year of high school, and I didn’t want to leave it, so I stayed with a cousin and his family in Meridian,” remembered Bethany. “I came down here on Christmas break. That’s when I met my husband, David. We were riding around what was Sonic then. After that holiday, I decided I wanted to go ahead and move down here.”
She and David fell in love, married, and started a family of their own. To start with, she was primarily a stay at home mom; although, she did do a little work between her decisions to stay home with the kids.
“We got married in March 1985. It wasn’t long after we got married that he went off to basic training. We spent two years in Columbus, Georgia, and then we spent two years in Fort Greely, Alaska. After that, we came home at the end of 1989,” recalled Bethany. “I was a stay at home mom. Jessica was my first, and she was three months old when we went to Alaska. When we got back she was a little over two, so I just stayed home with her for a while. Six years later, I had Christy. After that, I got a job. I worked at a truck stop over in Pachuta. That was interesting and something I had never done. Then, I worked at the Quitman Knitting Mill for a while. Then, I went home again to be a stay at home mom.”
Eventually, she decided to return to the workforce.
“I got a frantic call from one of my friends, and she wanted to know if I needed a job,” stated Bethany. “I was tired of sitting at home, so I worked for hospice. I was a hospice volunteer coordinator and office manager for about four years. After that, I worked at Small World.”
After a while, Bethany received a call offering her the job of her dreams. She proudly accepted the position.
“I worked at Small World for a while, and I was sitting at the house one night when I got a call from Bro. Grady. He told me they were looking to fill a position that was coming open and wanted to know if I would be interested. I said yes, and March will make 15 years working here,” declared Bethany. “When I first got out of high school and was looking for a job, I went to the Baptist Center because I thought that would be my dream job.”
The job is perfect for her kind-hearted nature and allows her to help others. Her personality coincided perfectly with Bro. Grady’s bubbly spirit, they worked well together to help as many in the community as they could.
“When I first started at the Baptist Center, I wanted to help everyone that came in because they all seemed so sincere. We did, and Bro. Grady would say that we could only help with the funds we have because we only get donations here. I would help people as much as I could, and then I’d get so upset when we didn’t have the funds. I’d go to Bro. Grady, and he’d tell me it would be alright and would call up some people and tell them we had a need here, and they’d write a check out,” explained Bethany. “People would always tell us that we were helping people that didn’t need any help, and Bro. Grady would tell them he would rather we help nine people who didn’t need it than miss one who did. That’s always stuck with me. I do what I believe I need to do. We never give them money. We do stuff like go pay on their power bill if they need help with a power bill. If they need food, we have a small pantry here, or we may give them a voucher for a store that specifies certain things they can get like diapers. Over the years we had to change our policy on benevolence so that now we only help a person once a year unless it’s an extreme emergency or a church has asked on their behalf.”
Bro. Grady was a great role model for her, and he taught her valuable lessons that helped her even more with her job. Her job also gives her the freedom to be able to witness to others.
“Bro. Grady was an amazing man to work for. He taught me how to open my heart, and then he also taught me how to be a little discerning to people,” proclaimed Bethany. “When people do come in, I have a list that I go over about what they need and how they need help. I’ll ask them if they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I always use my little cube and go over with them the plan of what Jesus did for us and how to be saved. I was so amazed at how many people were ready to hear it and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and would pray with me. I always let people know that whether they say yes or no to that doesn’t affect if we help them or not. I started waiting until we finished the business part to talk to them about salvation to make sure that no one was saying a prayer just to get help.”
She frequently talks to those who come by the office and enjoys being able to mentor and guide them through their struggles. Sometimes that involves simply being the listening ear they need, and other times it could include giving advice.
“I used to wonder why God would have me going through some things. I know stuff happens to make us stronger, but then I also realized when I started working here that I can share what I’ve been through with people and help put them at ease when they’re going through some things. I’ve had a lot of different people come in,” said Bethany. “One woman came in who was fixing to have an abortion. I prayed with her and talked with her and gave her some information. She went home, called me back, and told me that she changed her mind. That thrilled my soul. A few months later, she brought in a precious baby girl. God just puts us in situations where we can help people. The thing about it is if we don’t take those opportunities, then those are missed opportunities that we could share God with others.”
With all the ways they are able to help at the Baptist Center, Bethany still wanted to be able to do more for the community. After talking about what she wanted to see with Bro. Grady, he helped make her dream into a reality.
“Having a clothes closet was my dream for a while because people need clothes. People get burned out of their homes and need everything again,” explained Bethany. “I talked to Bro. Grady about it, and he said it was a great idea. He raised the money like he did so well, and we bought the little building to put outside here. We had some men come in who donated their time and most of their supplies. When people found out we have, they started bringing us stuff. There were volunteers at first who helped with it, but now I need some volunteers to help organize it and keep it clean in there.”
Not only does she help others through her job, but her mom got her involved in a local volunteer organization: CAN.
“My mother was a wonderful woman. One of her friends from high school ran Clarke Assistance for the Needy (CAN). They hand out food boxes, and he asked her to help since it’s all volunteer,” expressed Bethany. “She started doing that in the early 1990s, so I would help her volunteer there after we came back from Alaska. I loved it. I’ve always loved helping people, and that was one of my things.”
She still volunteers and has witnessed changes over the past few years to accommodate for the pandemic.
“I still help with CAN. We make boxes of food, and then we have volunteers to help us. I could not do it without the volunteers. When Covid started is when I really got back into it. I would do all the paperwork for it and order the food and all. When Covid started, they closed it down. I cried because it broke my heart since I knew people needed food and not getting it,” stated Bethany. “I talked to Mr. Bobby Rutledge since he’s the director of it. I told him I thought we could open it back up but instead of letting people come inside, people could just drive through. We could just put the boxes in their car, and they wouldn’t have to get out or have any contact with us. We talked to Mississippi Food Network, and they told us we wouldn’t have to have any physical signatures at the time and that we could just go on
what they said at the time. We were only closed down for two weeks over there. We would wear our masks and gloves and just ask people for their names and how many people were in their family. It started working very well that way. I have about nine volunteers who help. We do that every Thursday from 8:00 to 12:00.”
Helping others isn’t the only thing that is important to her. She also believes church is important. While she and her husband got away from going for a few years, they eventually started going again. Over time, she became more involved and took on responsibilities.
“I failed so many times, and I got away from God when I got out on my own. When we went to Georgia, we only tried one church and only tried it once and knew we didn’t want to go back. For the two years we were in Georgia and the two years we were in Alaska, we didn’t go to church,” recalled Bethany. “When we came back from Alaska, we lived with my mom and dad until we could find us a place to live. My mom told me that she loved me but that if I was going to stay in her house, then I was going to go to church. We started going with her, and we would go on Sunday mornings after we got our own house. Miss Nellie Thompson came to me one day and said that she had been praying about it and that they needed a Sunday school teacher and asked if I would do it. I started crying and told her I had been wanted to get in Sunday school and do more stuff. I became the Sunday school teacher. Then, I was a youth teacher for a while. That was at Mont Rose where David grew up.”
A tragedy in their life eventually caused them to feel called to attend another church.
“When I started working for hospice, I was working with Bro. Dennis Coats; he was the chaplain there,” informed Bethany. “Then, my brother was in a very bad accident, and after two weeks, he died. Bro. Dennis would minister to us and mentioned to us that my daddy wanted him to do the funeral. He did, and we were impressed with him. We wanted to go to his church, so we started going there. When we got there, they put me in charge of the youth Sunday school class again. I love it. I enjoy the children.”
With each day that passes, Bethany only grows in her love and desire to serve others. She demonstrates a true servant’s heart and will continue to be a witness and spread joy to others.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726
