Jerry Phillips gets some strange looks when he stops by Sam’s Club to do a little shopping. You might, too, if you filled your cart with 50 cases of animal crackers."I get a lot of questions at Sam’s," Phillips said. "People tell me that they can’t stand it, they have to ask why I’m buying all the animal crackers." Phillips, associate pastor for community ministries at First Baptist Church in Huntsville, buys the animal crackers in bulk for TDCJ employees working at five different Walker County units. Once a week, church volunteers deliver bags of crackers and cold cans of soda and bottled water to employees working each shift at the Huntsville, Goree, Byrd, Wynne and Holliday units.  The offerings are part of the officer ministry the church started up nearly two years ago with the arrival of Pastor David Valentine. "When I came in I realized that a significant part of the population of Huntsville is TDCJ staff and their families," Valentine said. "We’re next door to the Huntsville Unit and we want to be a good neighbor. We wanted to tell the correctional officers and the staff of TDCJ how much we appreciate them and the value they bring to the community." The officer ministry really began with the buying of the Walker County Fair & Rodeo grand champion steer by church members in 2002 and the serving of the bovine to employees of the Huntsville Unit in the form of barbecue. Former Senior Warden Neill Hodges was appreciative, but skeptical at first. "I was," he said. "That’s just the nature of growing up in the penitentiary. When somebody wants to come do something for you, you always think in the back of your mind, okay, what does he want in return? Well, First Baptist Church and David Valentine didn’t want anything in return." Each week church volunteers typically hand out 37 cases of soda, 30 cases of bottled water and 17 cases of animal crackers. Goods are delivered directly to officers working the perimeter pickets and dropped off at the control picket for distribution to employees working inside the facility. Bottled water is also furnished to trainees and instructors at the TDCJ Correctional Training Academy at Sam Houston State University. The church, founded in 1844, spends about $25,000 annually to provide the food and refreshments. "For us, it’s the joy of doing it," Phillips said. "I don’t think we could keep our volunteers away from doing it. They get so much instant feedback from the officers it’s unbelievable. It’s just the joy you get back."

"It’s the one thing in Christian ministry that I get a bang out of," said church member Mike Cato as he passed out colas and crackers one Wednesday morning from a church-owned electric car he drives from picket to picket. "It’s just really neat to interact with the guys. We just have a special relationship with them that you’re not going to develop anywhere else." "It’s great," said CO IV Bob Hurd as he hoisted a bag containing drinks and crackers into his perimeter picket. "We all appreciate it and look forward to it." "I think they’re a blessing," added CO IV Milford Hawkins. Phillips, a retired Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent and 18 years a member at First Baptist, keeps cards of thanks from officers on his desk and pinned to a church bulletin board. "Thank you," wrote one officer. "Nobody else gives us any thanks at all. Everything the Press sees is us in the wrong. Water, soda, cookies means a lot to us."  Dr. Pepper was added to the drink list this year, giving employees a choice between that brand and Coke. And there usually aren’t enough animal crackers to go around.  "At first I wasn’t sure why we did the animal crackers, but they’ve gotten to where they like them," Phillips said. "If you don’t show up with the animal crackers, they want to know why." Warden Hodges said the officer ministry gives employees confidence that someone in the community cares about them. "What they are doing is great for the morale of our staff," Hodges said. "In the 31 years I’ve been around I cannot think of anything like this."  "I know they appreciate it," Phillips said. "You can’t go around and visit with them and come to any other conclusion. They just give the love back wholeheartedly."  Approximately 25 church members volunteer their time to the officer ministry, making morning, afternoon and evening trips to the adopted units to cover each shift. In addition to free drinks and crackers, the church also gives TDCJ employees access to its Family Life Center which features a full-size gym ringed by a jogging track, locker rooms with showers, a racquetball court, and an exercise room with cardiovascular equipment and weight machines. All that’s needed for entry is a valid TDCJ identification card.

Church members also lend TDCJ employees an ear if asked."  They pass out the soda waters and all that, but the biggest benefit, I think, is that the staff knows that if they have a non work-related problem there is someone other than agency staff they can go talk to with the utmost confidence that it will stay confidential," Hodges said. "That has been one of the biggest things that our staff has gotten of it, the support."  Phillips said no more than 50 of the church’s 700 members are TDCJ employees. "They were a group of folks we saw that got very little attention from the community one way or the other," he said. "Not a lot of negative attention, but certainly not a lot of positive. They’re doing a job that we want them to do and everybody needs some affirmation and reassurance, a pat on the back occasionally." The church’s volunteer efforts were recognized in April 2003 when it was named the winner of the Carol S. Vance Volunteer of the Year Award during the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award presentation. Other area churches have since followed First Baptist’s lead and adopted additional TDCJ units. The First Baptist Church of Madisonville has taken on the Ferguson Unit near Midway while the First United Methodist Church of Trinity caters to employees at the Eastham Unit near Lovelady. Valentine and Phillips told the Board of Criminal Justice in November that they hope to one day see officer ministries throughout the state.  "We’re trying to get it spread statewide," Phillips said. "I’d love to see every unit and every state jail and even every parole office adopted."  When the officer ministry started, Phillips said some TDCJ employees wondered why they were doing it and when it would end. But like Warden Hodges, they’ve become true believers over time. "I don’t foresee us not doing it," Phillips said. "We believe God has called us to do it and until he lets us know otherwise, we’re going to be doing it." Add your Church as a Resource For more information, Contact: Bert Thompson Bert@RJCTexas.org 713-668-0103