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IFC marks 50 years

	The University United Methodist Church on Franklin Street is one of many faith-based organizations being honored.

The University United Methodist Church on Franklin Street is one of many faith-based organizations being honored.

The Inter-Faith Council, which runs Chapel Hill’s homeless shelters, will celebrate its 50th anniversary tonight by honoring the people and organizations that have helped it thrive.

Among the 126 people and groups honored is Rev. Robert Seymour, the IFC’s first president. Seymour is the emeritus pastor at Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill and is an honorary life member of the IFC board.

Seymour said the organization was created to meet basic human needs by bringing food, clothing and other services to people in need. What was originally a small organization run entirely by volunteers has now grown to become the largest social service agency in Chapel Hill, he said.

“It’s awesome to see how far we’ve come,” Seymour said. “It was a very inauspicious beginning. I’m sure in these last 50 years we have literally brought meals to hundreds of thousands of people and provided shelter for thousands more.”

He said since its founding in 1963, the organization has grown in a way he could have never foreseen, thanks to the dedicated help of volunteers.

“As often is the case, the motivation came from a small group of the United Church women who were quietly trying to meet the needs of poor people who were having a hard time living in Chapel Hill,” he said.

He said the women ultimately came to a point where they could not meet the needs of the community on their own and decided to reach out to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro ministerial organization for help. The IFC was born, and Seymour was appointed as the first president, a role he served in for seven years.

“I’m one of many who are being honored, representing the 50 years of people who have served in very special ways,” he said.

Seymour said he hopes the organization will continue to receive support from the community so that it can provide a new shelter for men to accompany its existing shelter for women and children.

In addition to promoting future goals and current contributors to the IFC, the organization commemorates the service of those who have passed away. One community member to be recognized is Tim Heninger, who volunteered as a receptionist at the IFC’s Community House shelter and Community Services food pantry for 15 years.

His wife, Dottie Heninger, said she was touched to find out that he is being honored for his contributions. Dottie is also an IFC supporter and a member of the Chapel Hill Friends Meeting, which has a strong connection to the organization.

“He would be very pleased to know he is being honored,” she said.

Dottie said her husband became involved with the IFC because he wanted to help the community thrive.

“He was an academic who spent most of his career working with the privileged and those who were very successful,” she said. “But, in his retirement, he chose to work with the other populations of the world and of our community.

“We’re all in this together and we want this community to be as healthy and sturdy as it can be,” she said.

Dottie said she feels the IFC is well integrated in the community and she hopes to see that continue.

“I hope that the IFC will go out of business (in the next 50 years) and that we will have solved all of these social problems.”

Many organizations have also contributed to the cause of ending poverty in Chapel Hill. Fifty will be honored at the anniversary gala, including Chapel Hill’s University United Methodist Church.

“With IFC, many of our members volunteer regularly at their food ministry,” said the church’s reverend, Carl King. “We’ve had a good partnership, as have all of the downtown churches in addressing homelessness in our area.”

“I think one really neat thing about IFC is that it all began as the outreach of a campus ministry,” he said. “50 years of Inter-Faith Council began with a student movement. I think that’s one of the things that we really value as well.”

King said the church has contributed money since the IFC was created, and he feels the need for the IFC in the community persists.

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“It’s a multifaceted problem and there needs to be many solutions,” King said. “We’re proud to be a part of IFC’s efforts.”

“At least in Christian tradition, we know that the poor are always with us, and I think that it’s important for all of the churches and synagogues and mosques and non-profit organizations in town to join forces under IFC’s umbrella,” King said.

He said University United Methodist Church is simply one of the many worthy groups being honored for their decades-long commitments to past work and future cooperation.

“The end we all strive for is to relieve hunger and finally correct homelessness,” King said. “The challenge today is that those needs are increasing.”

King said while the anniversary is a time to celebrate, it’s important to remember the IFC’s need for community support.

“In a community that seems very wealthy, we have a lot of school children on subsidized meals and we have a lot of families who are really living on the edge,” he said. “I fear sometimes that people don’t realize the great need that IFC fills and the great need our whole community has to increase our efforts to support them.”

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.