FOR members of the Church of God of Prophecy on Old Bucksfield Road in St Ann, few things are as important or rewarding as reaching out to those on whom mainstream society does not focus much attention.

It is for this reason that at least three groups from the church have been visiting both the Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Mary and the St Ann Infirmary monthly over the past few years, to bring a kind message and cheer to those who are locked away.

President of the church’s ladies fellowship group, Beverley Reid, said they started visiting the infirmary four years ago when she took charge of the group.

“From the first time I was chosen to lead, it came into my heart and we have started there and we have not stopped since,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Initially the group visited twice monthly, but now only visits every third Sunday. On these visits, they take meals and toiletries to the residents.

“We go like after church and we take things like soap and tissue and pudding and so forth to them,” Reid said.

She added that both residents and staff look forward to the visits, especially for the batch of freshly baked biscuits prepared by a lady at the church.

“It is a blessing, it is really a blessing,” said Reid of her visits to the infirmary.

Her sentiment was echoed by Winnifred Terrier-Lowe, head of the church’s senior citizen and feeding programmes. Terrier-Lowe and her groups started partnering with Reid’s group in their efforts at the infirmary in October 2007. She has since formed a bond with the residents who she said call her regularly to make their requests for items that they want from the outside. Phone cards, she said, usually top the list of requested items.

“It is just unfortunate that they are in that position,” Terrier-Lowe said. “I see whereby 90 per cent of them are happier and jollier than the people outside. They give me wind beneath my wings.”

She added that she takes pleasure in preparing the meals for the residents, which consist of a variety of meats, rice and peas, turn cornmeal, vegetables, macaroni and cheese, as well as Jell-O or ice cream for dessert.

“When we serve food, we serve for a 140 people because the staff is eating and our staff is eating there too,” she said. “We can’t effectively tell people about God when their stomachs are empty.”

In December, the residents get to put in their order for their favourite food and those dishes are prepared. A party is also hosted for them at Christmas.

“We have singing and poems and entertaining music. It is special for them, because they can’t come out,” she said.

But Reid was quick to point out that although the groups love the fellowship, they never lose sight of their purpose for going there.

“For us, going there is not just to give them a nice meal, but also to minister to them because they are souls,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Last May, the church took in a portable pool to the infirmary and baptised 11 people who had expressed a desire to follow Christ.

“What really stood out after that baptism was a young lady who was always shaking and couldn’t sleep and couldn’t walk on her own. The nurses told us that she is now able to walk and she is sleeping peacefully at nights,” relayed Reid excitedly.

She believes that both the church members and the residents benefit from their visits to the infirmary.

“You see when we are finished on a Sunday evening, we feel refreshed and we feel good,” she said. “We sit and we talk to them. Some of them can’t feed themselves and can’t comb their hair and we help. We minister to them and they are like family to us. We don’t scorn them or anything.”

Meanwhile Aston McIntyre, a deacon at the church said he is more focused on those imprisoned at the Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre. So for the past two years, he and about six other men from the church have been visiting the facility to minister to the inmates.

“We tell them that Jesus loves them and that they don’t have to stay in there. We also remind them of Paul and Silos,” he said. “Last time we went there, we had service and there were two people there to be baptised.”

He noted that there are signs of transformation in the inmates through the church’s teachings.

“I think they end up with receptive hearts. They feel so good and you see it on their faces,” he said, adding that the men usually come willingly to be prayed for by the group.

McIntyre said his only regret is that his group could not visit more often. Currently they work with the time they have been given by the institution’s administrators to visit.

“I feel good about doing these things because it is not only the four walls that we must preach to. Sometime we are waiting on them to come, but we forget the charge that Jesus gave to go into the highways and byways,” he said.