Ethnographic Study of Global Samaritan Resources

Rasbury 16

Ethnographic Study of Global Samaritan Resources

Wes Rasbury

Field Education

BIBM 629.01

Dr. Brady Bryce

July 31, 2014

Part One:

Global Samaritan Resources is only one of the over two-hundred and forty non-profit organizations located in Abilene, Texas. This organization offices on North 1st Street, on the premises of what used to be the Coca-Cola bottling plant, and before that, the location of Abilene Christian College. The staff is composed of only four full-time staff, four other part-time workers, and then myself for this summer. It is an organization that may seem quaint and small on the outside to the uninformed or unfamiliar- and granted, it is by no means as large as The Red Cross or Goodwill. However, the truth is that Global Samaritan Resources is a ministry focused on following the will and guidance of God, and has helped people help people, both here in Abilene as well as all over the world, for the fifteen years it has been in existence.

To be completely honest, I was one who was uninformed and even unaware of Global[1] until the end of this past February. I was only exposed to this organization because I was serving as one of the University Ministry interns for the Highland Church of Christ, and we had planned a service day for our group and the University Ministry group from University Church of Christ. (Unfortunately, only the interns showed up to represent Highland on that Saturday morning). However, the fact that I was able to attend and what happened that day was God’s work, I am sure. I had not been able to attend the previous Saturday service days that we had planned due to other conflicts, but I was able to go to this one, and it was definitely the working of God in my life. Not only were the others students, interns and I able to gain exposure to Global Samaritan Resources, learn about their work and ministry, and serve them by getting to a couple of tasks that needed to be done but had fallen on the back burner because of their limited staff, but we were also presented with an opportunity for future employment with them.

Near the end of our time working there, Esther Kissell, (Global Samaritan’s Director of Logistics and Disaster Services), told our group about the opening and search for a summer intern in order to work with the different youth groups and Kadesh groups that came in throughout the summer. I dismissed the idea slightly while there because I had other passions and pursuits that I was trying to work at for the summer, but none of which had panned out yet. However, that day and evening, I reflected on the opportunity more and more, and at 9:14 PM, I emailed Esther, attached my resume, and asked to be considered for the summer internship position. After an interview a few weeks later, and a couple more weeks of anxiously waiting, (and slightly giving up hope), I received the call that I had the position, and before I knew it we were discussing when I could start. Thus, it was seemingly by chance that I was able to work with Global this summer, and even though I still did not know half of what they did or how they worked, I became part of ‘Team Global,’ and had a summer that will forever change my life.

Global Samaritan Resources, as I started into above, is non-profit organization that is solely and basically into the business of helping people. I tweaked a little above, but their unofficial tagline or subtitle is ‘Helping people help people.’[2] Thus, their major focus so far in their fifteen years of existence has been humanitarian aid. They began as vision cast by Dr. Ed Enzor and ACU graduate David Catalina, with only a semi trailer to use as operating space, and have grown so much that they now occupy, (and nearly fill), a fifty-five thousand foot warehouse. The many different things that fill this warehouse include almost anything one could imagine- dentist chairs, hospital beds, mattresses, crutches, wheel chairs, bandages, tooth brushes, ostomy supplies, computers, servers, printers, school supplies, school desks, office desks, kitchen tables, chairs, and thousands of books. What is most incredible to me, (and still remains incredible to me), is the fact that each and every thing that is housed in the warehouse has been donated by people, organizations, companies, hospitals, etc. Thus, the mission of Global and the part that this organization plays is to be the connection point between those who have excess items and those who need these items. They have sent items to over thirty different countries on five different continents over their fifteen-year history so far, and are very connected in the Abilene community as well.

However, Global is much more than a humanitarian aid organization. I was surprised to learn that Global Samaritan not only focuses on humanitarian aid, but also has three other ‘passions’ or ‘pillars’ that it works to try to accomplish. The other three pillars of Global are disaster services, water filtration and purification, and food shipments. Disaster involves disaster relief, and added and developed more recently, disaster preparedness- i.e. sustainability plans for ministries and organizations. Water filtration and purification includes Global’s partnership with LifeStraw which makes water filtration straws, as well as their partnership with New Life International, which has developed a water purification system that can run off of a car battery and table salt. The food shipments pillar is one of the most powerful, yet behind-the-scenes things that Global does. They partner with another organization that makes and packages dehydrated fortified food which makes something of a casserole meal, and which provides a person with all the nutrition needed for an entire day, and although Global does not even touch nor see these shipments, they provide the logistical help in order to get the food where it needs to go. A forty-foot container, (which is the most common means of shipment that Global deals with), contains two hundred and eighty five thousand servings of food.[3] Thus, Global Samaritan is much more than a simple organization in Abilene, but is connected in Abilene’s own community, and all over the world in many different ways.

Due to the variety in everything that Global is involved in, there is quite a bit going on everyday both in the offices, and sometimes even more so in the warehouse. My primary responsibility throughout the summer, as mentioned above, was to work with many different youth groups and Kadesh groups who came out and served with us throughout the summer. In all, we had thirteen different groups come and work with us, ranging from early middle school aged kids, all the way up to a group of college students, (and that is not mentioning the older adult leaders who came with the Kadesh groups). Before this summer, Global had not yet had a summer intern, and thus the responsibility of working with these different groups fell on the shoulders of Esther, who is in charge of the entire warehouse, the part-time staff who work in the warehouse, the large logistical component of Global, as well as the disaster services branch of Global. Thus, since I was working under Esther, I worked closely with these groups so Esther could focus on her other work. However, because we did not have a group come out and work with us every day, I also did a variety of different tasks, (much like the variety of the nature of work that Global does).

Besides working with the groups, organizing and preparing different projects for the groups to do, I worked out in the warehouse palletizing, loading, unloading, organizing, and building crates for the two major loads we worked on this summer- one going to Pemba, Mozambique and the other to Nicaragua. I also went on a couple of different major pick-ups, (one all the way to Crowley, Texas and back), as well as on a couple of drop-offs. I also sat in on meetings, (per Esther’s request), with different missionaries and mission teams looking to partner with Global or to gather supplies for their mission efforts. Also, because I have a little bit of technological background, I troubleshot computers, worked on printers, fixed network connections, and even created a graphic or two for upcoming events. Every day was different from the last, but this kept the days interesting and exciting.

The two research questions that governed my ethnographic study throughout this summer were 1) How does Global Samaritan Resources function as a non-profit organization?, and 2) What relationships does Global Samaritan Resources have with other organizations, (specifically Abilene Christian University), here in Abilene? Due to the fact that I had not learned much about Global before I started working there, (as well as to the fact that I knew nothing about non-profits prior to working with them this summer), I was curious as to how it could operate and function as a non-profit, especially one that is run almost solely off of donations and donated goods. I wondered how they could operate and support four full-time staff members if they did not upcharge their shipments in order to make a profit. I wondered how they could function if the one hundred percent of the money donated for a specific cause went to that specific cause with none held back whatsoever. As for the second question, I was curious as to how connected Global was and is with the Abilene community. I must admit that part of this curiosity stemmed from the fact that I had not learned about Global until the fifth year I was Abilene, and the thinking, (albeit incorrect), that Global was not very well connected within its own city and community, especially the ACU community.

The religious practices that I employed throughout my ethnography dealt with the two research questions I was asking. For the first question, I saw the religious practices of management, organization, coordination, and stewardship directly correlating to the question of how does this organization function and operate? These practices all fit into the overarching idea of operation and functioning of this organization. The second question, (What relationships does Global Samaritan Resources have with other organizations in Abilene, specifically ACU?), involved a couple of different religious practices- that of advocating, service, and giving. I was curious as to how I could go four and half or five years without ever really hearing about Global, let alone knowing what they do. I wondered if this was true for many other ACU students, and as I explored this further, I realized that Global’s campus was a great place to give both physically as well as financially. I thought about the wealth that the ACU student body collectively holds, (in both physical and in financial means), and I wondered if there could be a way to connect ACU more into the life of Global.

I feel as if I need to say here that I originally approached the relationship that Global Samaritan Resources has with ACU as somewhat negative because I assumed that my experience of not hearing anything about Global for five years was the common experience of ACU students as a whole. I projected my own experience on others. I assumed that the relationship between these two entities was small or possibly even strained. However, I was absolutely wrong to do so, and as I have gone through the summer and learned more about Global, I have learned that they have a great relationship with ACU, as well as with HSU, and are working on developing their relationship with McMurray. There may be ways in which this relationship between Global and ACU could improve, (especially between Global and the ACU student body), but there is currently a strong and healthy relationship between these two organizations.

My theology for this specific study arose mostly from reflecting on my experience and from learning about Global Samaritan. I saw place in Abilene that could use a couple of extra hands every once in awhile, (not to mention a few extra dollars every month), and I saw a university comprised mostly of middle-to-upper class students located in the same city. As I learned more and more about the work of Global Samaritan, I was moved by the many different things that they do, as well as by the quality of which they preform each of these different tasks. Although the place is not overtly spiritual, I felt the presence of God everyday while I worked with them this summer. God was evident not only in the way things worked out and in how connections were made between items and people, but also in the approach that Global takes when it comes to helping others. Despite the fact that each of the four full-time staff members come from different denominations, and despite the fact that our groups were sometimes composed of students from different denominations, and despite the fact that some of Global’s partners are rooted in different denominations, (or sometimes not even rooted in Christianity), Global still runs and operates, welcomes these volunteers, and works with these organizations. I loved the ecumenical stance Global took in these regards. However, it was not the goal of ecumenism that Global Samaritan Resources was after. Rather, their sole purpose and mission is to help others, and to help others help others. It seemed to me that Global was, and is, truly doing the work of our Lord- loving God first and foremost, and loving others.

The research experience and process went very well for me, and for all parties involved I believe. The Global staff is curious and excited to see my final report on what I researched, and some of the ACU students that I interviewed were intrigued about Global Samaritan. Each of the interviews I was able to do were very comfortable and smooth, and each of the participants were every easy to work with and provided great insight and feedback. I particularly enjoyed compiling the Ethnographic Field Notebook because I was presented with huge amounts of content. As you can see by looking through it, not only was I able to include pictures from the different groups we had come out over the summer, but I was also able to scan in nearly all of the different forms and papers that Global has on hand to get their information out to others. I do not know what the average amount of content for this notebook usually is, but I feel as if I was able to include a great deal in my own, which only helps to provide a deeper and more full explanation and understanding of the work of Global Samaritan Resources.