Abstract
In this 2025 interview, Mark Smith, pastor at Sanctuary Baptist Church, talks about his early life in Hartford, Connecticut, his move to Cleveland, and his life in and outside of the church. He discusses his career path, his involvement in the Mt. Pleasant and Union-Miles neighborhoods, and his hopes for the future of Sanctuary Baptist Church.
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Interviewee
Smith, Mark (interviewee)
Interviewer
Carubia, Ava (interviewer)
Project
Union-Miles
Date
2-25-2025
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
50 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Mark Smith Interview, 25 February 2025" (2025). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 483017.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/1370
Transcript
Ava Carubia [00:00:00] We’re recording now, and I have a script that I read at the beginning of every interview, which is today is February 25th, 2025. My name is Ava Carubia, and I’m here at NuPoint Community Development Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio, interviewing Pastor Mark Smith for the Cleveland Regional Oral History Project. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed today. And I’ll also say that Jameesha Alexander is present for the interview, just in case she decides to chime in at all. And then forthe record, can you please state your name, the year you were born and where you were born?
Mark Smith [00:00:39] My name is Mark Smith, and I was born in 1959 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Ava Carubia [00:00:49] All right, perfect. So I just want to get started right there. Can you talk about your early life in Hartford and how you got to Cleveland?
Mark Smith [00:00:58] Certainly. So I, my father was a pastor. When I was born, I probably have been known to say I was born in the church, been doing church stuff all my life. But as I was growing up under my father, I was what is known as a preacher’s kid. And we were expected back then to be holier than thou, etc. Etc. Great kids, and we really usually turn out to be some of the worst kids. But I often would see him and his interaction back in Connecticut. He was very involved back in Connecticut with the governor. In fact, when Martin Luther King would come to town, he would act as one of his ambassadors, and I oftentimes would hang on to his leg, if you would, and kind of follow him around. So that was my first injection into kind of public service, seeing what he was doing, etc, etc. We were fine in Connecticut. My father was a pastor in Connecticut, and I was going to high school in Connecticut. And my father did a funeral service here in Cleveland, Ohio, and I’m sorry, he did a funeral. He was doing a funeral back in Connecticut, in Hartford, at a local church. And someone from Cleveland, Ohio, a member of the Mount Olive Baptist Church, which is in the Mt. Pleasant area, heard him preach and asked if he would be interested in preaching at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. And he accepted the engagement. And once he got to that engagement, they were very impressed. And turns out that the church was open for a new pastor and they asked if he would submit a resume. Well, mind you, he was there, we were there in Connecticut. And again, my whole persona back then, I was still in high school and doing high school stuff, but he accepted the, or I’m sorry, he sent the resume in, and subsequently one thing led to another and they made a proposal. And here we are now in Cleveland. Mind you, when I, when they first came, which was in 1979, I was just graduating high school and I had a lot of little ties because I was a young man and a few little friends back there. I decided I wasn’t coming. So I stayed back in Connecticut and learned the hard way that I needed to go back home because life got a little rough financially and, and I decided I’d come here. So I got here in 1980 is when I came, went to, started college, Tri-C, did, did Cleveland State, did a school called Dyke College and actually ended up actually graduating from Dyke College. And I don’t remember the year essentially, but I achieved a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and had a wonderful time at a place called Higbee’s while I was in school. I worked in the cosmetic department. Was one of the greatest jobs a young fellow could have. Working in women’s cosmetic at the age of 19 and able to tell women oh, that smells good on you. Holding their hands and telling them wonderful things. And I was the top salesperson at Higbee’s because it smells good on you. That happened all through my college career and I finally graduated somewhere so that’s probably like a five year span there. Hanging out at Higbee’s, going to school. I went to school sometime part-time, full time, no time. But I finally did graduate and that’s the key. I did graduate, finally. Upon graduation, I got a job with a group called Sohio. Sohio was the gas company that I worked for. I was in their management trainee program and was doing absolutely wonderful. BP, a company called BP came and bought them out and BP, these are the gas stations. I’m sure you guys, you probably don’t know about Sohio, but you know about BP. BP came in and bought Sohio out. And upon them buying Sohio out, there went my job. So somewhere around five, six months or so I’m looking for work and I’ve got this Bachelor’s of Science degree in business management and thinking that everybody would just jump all over me and hire me and I would be skating free, etc, etc. So I went for about 8 months unemployed and rough times, very rough times. But I answered an ad in the paper. There was a driver’s position available for a company called UPS, United Parcel Service. I hadn’t a clue who they even were, but it was a job. And I showed up at what they used to call unemployment bureaus. I don’t even think they have those anymore. And there must have been some 200 people there. And I showed up in a suit for a truck driver’s position. Got the interview and just happened, if you recall, I told you that a church called Mount Olive Baptist Church had called my father. When I got to the interview, one of the interviewers happened to go to Mount Olive Baptist Church, unbeknownst to me. And subsequently, we got the job. And I got a job with the United Parcel Service as a truck driver. And I have a Bachelor’s in Science degree in business management. But I’m a truck driver now. Never drove a truck in my life. Learned how to drive the truck, abcdfg, but I stayed on that truck for about two years. But letting them know that I have a Bachelor of Science degree in business management, I’d like to get into the management sector. And they finally heard me, so they promoted me. And that was probably in 1993 or so. Back then when you went into management for UPS, in fact, any manager in UPS who worked through the 80s, up to about the early 90s, they were coming out millionaires. It was pretty lucrative. Well, I got promoted right when they went public, I got one of those. And the reason they were coming out of millionaires is because of the stock options that they had. And I got promoted just when UPS went public and all of the stock options went away. So the story of my life. A moment too late, a minute too soon. I got one of those splits that those guys used to get, like weekly. Literally weekly, they were splitting the stock and that’s how they became millionaires because that stock would just grow, grow, grow, grow. But I got one. And I could have walked into Central Cadillac and paid cash for a car right off the floor. I only got one of them, but hey, great medical benefits taught me how to logistically work things. Kept me. I mean, they aligned me in such a way that I’m really. It’s a privilege to have work for them. Mind you, the UPS is incredibly anal, and I’m saying that on tape. But the work ethic is impeccable. If you’re ever in an interview with anyone and you need a worker and they formerly worked for UPS or had some experience, that is usually a good worker. And I’m saying all this because it all comes into fruition if you would, or comes to play. Probably because of my experiences being a pastor. But let me just digress right back there. I got the management job. Now I’m in management. Meanwhile, my father is pastoring Mount Olive Baptist Church. And the Mount Olive deal didn’t really work out too well. So there was what we term a split, and a piece, a portion of Mount Olive left with my father and became what is now known as Sanctuary Baptist Church. Sanctuary Baptist Church actually started at the corner of 147th and Harvard. There used to be the House of Wills. It’s a vacant lot up there now. And that’s where Sanctuary started, up there because it was a split from Mount Olive and it evolved into the Sanctuary Baptist Church. Sanctuary Baptist Church was there for about a year.Then Sanctuary Baptist Church moved up on Kinsman. There is a Muslim building somewhere across from that Save-A-Lot. So we were there for about a year and the building on the corner of 131st and Harvard became available. It was a former supermarket. When we got it, it was a former dance hall or so it wasn’t really utilized and we acquired it and purchased it. Meanwhile, I’m still working, as well, at UPS. I’m now a UPS manager, just doing my thing, going the corporate route. Still in the church. However, I still remain in the church. I’m doing things with ups, doing things with the church because I’ve always had this thing for helping people. I just. That’s what I do as a kid. I even had a few little gerbils and all that, helping them out, happy because I thought it was what I should do. So I’m now at UPS. He’s now the pastor of the Sanctuary Baptist Church. I’m still working with him in the church. Became a deacon in the church. Still working at UPS. Having multiple experiences in UPS. They promoted me to this and that. I became the liaison for the congressional office. UPS Congressional office. There’s a liaison always. That position still remains. And I worked with Lou Stokes, I worked with Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Marsha Fudge. And this is all that period of time. You know, this is interesting. I’ve never really talked about my life like this. But I’m doing the UPS thing and I’m doing the church thing. Well, my father got ill and. Well, let’s diverge, digress for half a second. Somewhere in there I was a deacon and I started ministering. So I became a minister. So I elevated myself and I know I’m jumping back and forth UPS church. But it all parallels when it comes together. But somewhere in there I became a minister at my father’s church, Sanctuary. Now I’m a minister there and I’m helping and I’m doing this, that and the third. And I became. After that I became a reverend. So there’s. I got ordained. I went to some online classes and became a reverend. And somewhere in there there was a church meeting and I became the co-pastor still at UPS. Doing UPS in the corporate world, but I’m also doing the church. And both of them seemingly interacted a lot because of my position as a liaison with the congressional office. And then I did sales for UPS. So a lot of it was intertwined and I’d run into someone in UPS who knew some church stuff, kind of quote and all of it was kind of intertwined. My father, I became co pastor. And somewhere in there around, I think it was about 2005 in fact it was my father got very ill and I was, I then was still with UPS as a manager and I became co-pastor. And in 2005 he got ill and subsequently passed away. And I became the pastor upon his passing because the church had voted that if something were to happen to my father, I would become the co pastor. I’m sorry, I would become the pastor upon his demise. Very heavy load. I had to bury my father. I had to bury my pastor. I took on the pastorate. Meanwhile, I forgot this little major portion of my life. You know, somewhere in there I actually got married way, way back and I forgot to tell you that and had a son and all that stuff. Way this was way back when the right after I graduated college and got this Sohio thing and all there, there’s a marriage that took place there and a son even who developed out of there. Missed that portion. How did I do that? But anyhow, that’s all a part of it. But I took on the pastorate. I was working corporately. UPS. Was a family guy taking care of the family and felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulder. It was wow, it was a lot. But we made it. And that’s, you know, the story of my life. Just keep moving. That’s what I did. Keep moving. Because once you sit down, then that’s the end of everything. If you would. I think it’s harder to hit a moving target. But anyhow, I am now the pastor of the Sanctuary Baptist Church, 2005 and I’m also a manager at UPS and working both of those things. So this whole thing I’m doing even today, is almost like cakewalk. Because when I think about the UPS and no it isn’t, it’s probably parallel. I’m probably just as busy. But somewhere in there, fast forward, I want to say 2017 now I’m interacting all with the church, I’m interacting with UPS, but 20s, 2015 or so, everything, was, we were fine. I’m doing little community stuff with UPS. I’m doing stuff with the church, getting to know individuals in the church, getting to know this area, working on Crenell, working with the council persons. We actually had an event where we had to shut down. There’s a bar across the street from our church and I got engaged with the councilmen and we had to get it shut down because 131st at Harvard was pretty rough. Still ain’t the greatest place in the world, but it was pretty rough. And interacting with the detectives, they would come through because they used to sit up on our roof and they would look over at the back then that was a. I think it was a Sunoco or something. Anyhow, it’s always been a gas station. But a lot of activity used to take place there. And they used to sit up on our roof and there was a lot of interaction going on. This is actually even between with my father as well, when he was still alive. But it really got really hot and heavy over there. So I’m interacting, doing church stuff, doing UPS stuff. And we’re just doing it, just going, going, going. About 2015ish or so my wife got ill, and my wife somehow got Parkinson’s disease. So I was now the pastor of Sanctuary Baptist Church, now the manager at UPS, had family and et cetera, et cetera. And my wife gets sick. So now I’m trying to be a caretaker as well. Again, heavy load, but I still kept on moving. It got so bad though with my wife that I had to retire, take an early retirement from UPS because it was really too much. She actually demanded almost 24 hour care. So I took that on and retired from UPS, still maintaining the pastorate. Wife with the Parkinson’s. And it was a severe case. They’ve really never seen how, why Parkinson’s would hit her so quickly and demise so quickly. She had complete faculties of her mind, but her bodily functions were shutting down. But I would do the church thing during the day and every night we would go to dinner somewhere and that’s ultimately what took her away because she lost her swallow ability. And they actually were training me. And it had happened several times where she would not. She would eat, but would not swallow. If your brain doesn’t tell you to swallow, you choke. But wait a minute. Digress. Press rewind. Because I had a son too, to tell you about him. My son was a preacher’s kid, kind of sort of. And as I told you at the beginning of this story, preacher’s kid can sometimes be kind of rough kids, bad kids, not bad. But my son tried to do a little stuff and he tried to be in the streets a little bit, which, you know, Bible says train up a child the way he should go. And he said, we will not depart, but they may stray. And he strayed a bit. But my son got really hung up into narcotics. And in 2017, was it 2017, he overdosed on drugs. And that was May 2017. Now fast forward. As I told you about my wife, she was ill as well. And 2017, in December, she passed away. So I lost my wife and my son in the same year. Hadn’t even really got my son in the ground and my wife passed away. So we able to put them both together. That’s how close, close it was. And the plot was still available, so we were able to do that. But I’m still moving, I’ve still got a smile on my face, pep in my step. And hey, man, I’m thinking, just telling you guys, that was devastating. And it really could be the death of a loved one, especially a spouse even. I lost my mother, I lost my father. But the death of a spouse. And even if it isn’t the greatest relationship in the world, and I don’t know of anyone who has the greatest relationship because there’s always going to be ups and downs. But it’s as though you lose a piece of your body, if you would, with a spouse, because that person is with you 24 7. And there were often times when we would be in the same house. I’d be upstairs, she’d be downstairs and we had. I didn’t even know she. Where she was at, whatever. But it’s just something about somebody being in a house with you, but that’s neither here nor there. So she passed, he. He’s gone now. And I just kept moving. I did, I just kept moving. When she passed, I said I was going to give up everything. In fact, I literally just left town and I stayed in Miami. I went to Miami Beach. I stayed down there for like two months. I think I’m still paying for that to this day. Miami Beach is not the cheapest place, but I just went, walked the beach and I said, I’m gonna give this up. But something compelled me to say, no, let’s go back. And I came on back, still pastoring. I was pastoring, I guess, quote unquote, from Miami Beach for about a month and a half. And they were very kind to me, they accepted that. But when I came back, I still had to remain busy, help. I just had this passion to help out people. And I kept on doing the church thing, kept on pastoring still in the same area, doing, witnessing sometimes in the streets of 131st and Crenell, working with the local businesses, still just doing that. But that was during the day. But at nighttime seemingly it was, it was rough. I mean I had nothing to do and I didn’t have to take my wife to dinner anymore. I’m just twiddling and I’m looking at four walls just coming in at me. So I said I got to do something. So again, I believe God was in this whole picture. I know God is in my life. So I saw an ad again for a part time position with American Airlines. I said, hmm. And I went and did what I needed to do and they hired me part-time American Airlines. And what I was doing was going in late at nights securing the aircraft. All those aircraft planes that come in have to be secured. They have to be kind of cleaned up a little bit. But you have to make sure there are no weapons. ABCDFG. So I started doing that. That was quite interesting because I had never really punched a clock or anything and, and that late crew is a whole different crew, those whole different gang of people. But I had a great time and we would do that and I would go in about 8 o’clock at night doing the church thing, doing this community stuff as much as possible, having meetings and what have you. And then about 8:00, well, actually I leave church stuff or whatever I was doing, run home about 4:30 or so, 5:00, tried to give me a quick little nap and this became a routine of mine.But I kept moving. I kept moving and I would go into the airport about 9:00, 8:30, 9:00, I had to be there. We usually didn’t get out of there until about 1, 2 o’clock, but if the planes were late, sometimes we would get there 4:00 in the morning. My goodness. But I did it. And the one good thing about this was that you got free flights. And I, it was great. I worked three days a week for the airlines doing what I needed to do. I got free flights. So I jump in that plane every now and then on my couple of like Fridays or so with nothing to do. And I catch a plan plane early in the morning and guess where I would be for lunch? Miami. Right back down there. I got to know. I like Miami. If you’ve never been to Miami, go to Miami Beach. It’s wonderful. You can’t stay too long because it’ll cost you a lot. But I do that. And I get home because they had a 9:30 flight, they had a 6:00am flight get you there and you’re there about 8:30, 9:00. And they had a 9:30pm flight back. And I take that plane go down, boom, boom. That went on back and forth and I went here and there. So we were doing okay. Still doing the service stuff over here with the church, then doing that. But I got in the routine because I kept busy. And you know, even though it still hurts with the wife, loss of a wife and the son, all that, and even to this day, I mean, you really never get over it. You just adjust. And time heals all wounds, as they say. So here I am. Then all of a sudden there was a fellow by the name of COVID. Anybody remember him? He came in and I’m working at the airlines and it just. Everybody stopped traveling and it was. That’s a part of. I was just talking to the young lady up front. You got. You guys still have that thermal thing here. So that reads your temperature when you come in. It’s pushed off to the side, but I hope I never go do that again. My goodness. But you could get a flight, you can get a flight out, but when you got to where you were going, there was nobody, there was nothing to do, Things were closed and it was just a crazy, crazy time. Then the one time there I got a flight to. Well, no, then, then COVID started subsiding. So once it started subsiding, people started flying again. But in between that, a lot of the pilots that took early buyouts, etc, etc, but then people started flying again and all of the flights were getting like really booked up because they didn’t have multiple planes like they used to have because there wasn’t a lot of pilots and people were on standby, which were my guys. If you were me, you would get bumped off and you could literally get stuck somewhere. And I got stuck in Honolulu, Hawaii for three days. Now, Hawaii is not the worst place to get stuck, but when you’re ready to go home, you’re ready to go home. And so I got stuck there. But that told me right then and there I said, you know what? I think maybe it’s time for me to give this up. And this is over like a four year span anyhow. And now things, you know, the walls weren’t really closing in anymore on me and I still had the pastorate. And the church is really starting to grow again. In that time, we were able to pick up a pantry because of COVID. And we were able to do that because we partnered with the Food Network and we were able to get that started. So things started opening up. The whole church.
Ava Carubia [00:30:24] Okay, recording.
Mark Smith [00:30:25] And we go. So where was I? About the. I was at the airport, right. I think I had a. All right. Yeah. Oh, by the way, it was a part time job that kind of evolved more to. Into a full time job. Because somehow, some kind of way, I became the area union rep for American Airlines, which took me over the entire state of Ohio now. So I’m actually doing the three nights a week. But then it’s kind of spiraled. And during the days, a lot of times I’d have to go to different airports, least six airports in the Ohio area that are under this union called CWA. So I’ve got to go here, there and everywhere. And I’m saying, wow. But really the final straw was because initially why I did it is because of the free flight benefits, period. That’s it. It wasn’t even the money, quote, unquote. But when you. When you can’t get that anymore, well, it’s time to go. So I resigned from there and started more and more doing. Because now this is after COVID and again, I’ve always been a community guy, anyhow. I’m not a Sunday morning preacher. Get up, preach. I get out. I do. And even today, like I said, I’m working. I work in my church. I do. A lot of times they get mad at me because I do. I’ll pick up a broom or anything you might see when you sweep. And I have. They know me. At least the older crew knew me, who used to hang on 131st at a place called. What were they called right in that corner. I can’t think of his name right now. Chili’s or something like that. Wasn’t it Chilis? No, something. Any other gas thing. They used to know me over there because I walk over there and share with them. But anyhow, so I left that and started doing more and more with the church, creating different opportunities, different things we were doing. But I still had this little void in the evenings that said I needed to do something because I guess I just like to stay busy. So I decided one evening to go to a. Because I live in Garfield Heights. So I went to a Garfield Heights City council meeting one Monday night and I was a bit concerned at what I was seeing and started inquiring and calling my councilman and not getting any answers, etc. Etc. Etc. So I decided that I was going to run for city council. So I did that. And it snowballed. I actually got a billboard donated to me and I came up with a platform that my motto, I took it. Sorry Tim Minsny, but he always says, you know, I’ll make them pay. So my motto was because like I said, I was calling my councilman and I’m getting nothing, nothing, nothing. So my motto became I will call you back. And then I even my first name is Mark. And then we put under there Mark my words. And I’m telling you it blew up. It was, everybody knew it. And I won. I got 70% of the vote and I took out a 16 year incumbent. It was incredible. Incredible. I’m still in awe. Now I gotta run again in 2025. I’m gearing up right now, but it looks like I don’t have an opponent. It looks like. We’ll see. Community stuff though, helping people. So now I’m the councilman in Garfield Heights. I’m the pastor of the Sanctuary Baptist Church. But they’re running basically parallel because all it is is extending your arm, helping out and this. I will call you back. In many instances, people just want some kind of response and that’s what. “Mr. And Mrs. Constituent, don’t have an answer for you right now. But I’m just letting you know that I’m still working on you issue, on your problem.” Same with the church. People just want somebody to talk to and that’s been me. I just, I’ll talk to you and don’t always have an answer. Sometimes my answer isn’t the greatest, sometimes it is, but just response. And that’s what I’ve been doing as the councilman, as the pastor, talking to individuals. So much so that we’ve talked our way into different segments, different rooms. We are now engaged in on the church side young people initiative called esports. We were actually able to acquire some funding to start that up. It’s in its infancy stages, but we’ve got all the equipment now. Our next step is to start a tournament so we can get some interest. We got to get a coach, but those are things. In order to get some of these young people off the street, come on in and play games. But it’s not just games because in that there are scholarships available for people who do the esports. You can learn some engineering items. There’s so much that can be done there. We’re doing that. We use, we are able to work with our brand new 4,000, 4,200 sq feet event space that we were able to pull off and we have that in the area now and it is open to the community. There are fees at times, but if it’s public service orientated, we usually just donate the time to make that happen. So the band plays on. That’s kind of a little capsule of my story. Sure, I missed a few little integral parts. But we’re here today. Primarily my whole emphasis is not I’m too small to save the world. And people keep telling me you’re not small, you’re not small. Well, I think if I could just make a difference right at the corner of 131st and Harvard right now in the Cleveland sector. If I could make just a difference, just a little difference in my ward in Garfield Heights by helping out somebody, I’m great, I’m great with that. So if there’s anything to be said for my legacy. I just want to make a difference for somebody else though. And I’ve taken me out. But I think me will be elevated if I make a difference in his or her life. I think that’s about all I got.
Ava Carubia [00:38:10] Well, I have a couple of questions just for some more details. When you first came to Cleveland, you said it was 1980. What was it like here in like. Around the Mount Olive area?
Mark Smith [00:38:24] In this area? I probably would hasten to say it was a little nicer than it is now. I was. In 1980 when I came here, I came here from Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford, Connecticut is a little small town. In fact, you know, you get out of now, it’s changed now. But back then, you know, you marry somebody and live happily ever after. The white picket fence, all that stuff. I came here and I was amazed. I mean there were pockets of people, individuals everywhere. People were everywhere. Oh my gosh, it was. It was downtown. You could see literally whatever you wanted to see. Prostitution, everything all downtown up this way was a little more quieter, I felt than down there. But what happened was they started moving all of that out of there and I think it’s gravitating up this way. I tend to see more activities up this way. And again, as I said, police used to come. We see them weekly on top of our building because of drug investment, what have you. I think right now though, in fact, the 131st and Harvard and I’ve been there like two in the morning. It’s really quiet. I don’t know what happened to everybody. I don’t know. Maybe COVID did something because I’ve seen somewhat of a change now over there, but in 1980 it was not as rough, maybe for lack of a better word, as it began to get maybe four, five, six years ago. Seemingly is trying to turn around now. And I’ve always said that if anything, 131st and Harvard, we’re going to make a difference. And we are. We were not as known back in 1980 on that corner. Everybody would say the Sonoco station. Oh, it’s rough. This, that, and the third. But now I’ve heard it, people say, oh, where the church is. And that’s huge for me. And that’s what we want. That’s the impact we’re trying to make.
Ava Carubia [00:41:04] My other question is a clarifying question. What year did the church split? Like when did you go from Mount Olive?
Mark Smith [00:41:11] So we were at Mount Olive from ’79. We. He left, I want to say in 1980. Sanctuary started in 1982. ’82. So ’79, ’80. There was like a kind of a transitional period. But the incorporation papers and all that say 1982. That’s when sanctuary started.
Ava Carubia [00:41:37] And then what year did y’all move to the building? 131st and Harvard.
Mark Smith [00:41:42] That would have been ’84. 1984. Yeah. So we took a two year kind of a circle around, what have you, and we wound up there.
Ava Carubia [00:41:55] Can you talk about the changes of that block, specifically how it changed since the church first opened in 1984?
Mark Smith [00:42:03] Oh, man. Yeah, we can say we. We’ve made a difference. We definitely have made a difference on that corner primarily because of the activities that we have going on. I got guys that go out on the streets kind of sort of and kind of talk to some of the individuals, especially across the street. In fact, at one point there we. We got. There’s a bus station around the corner there. And we had it removed because it was. It was so, so horrid in that bus shelter. But what happened was when it moved, they came up on the other side of the street and sat in front of my church, which we couldn’t have. So we talked to RTA about putting it back. So he put it back and we kind of monitor that little bus station there. We’ll put literature there, trying to make a difference. We have seen because of what we do, like on Thanksgiving and once a month, we give out food, there is a certain respect that that area has for that church. There is. I know, and I probably shouldn’t say this, but we. A couple of nights ago the door was left open and no one came in. No one. I don’t think we’ve ever even had a robbery. I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’ve never. Probably shouldn’t say that because now somebody coming to rob me. But we’ve never had a robbery in that church ever. So there is a certain respect that we carry on that. The bar across the street, at one point there was a major bar there. He actually respected us so that he opened a side door over there. Especially if he had something going on a Sunday, he would have everyone come in on the side door. So we. They know it’s a church now. Whether or not they still have the same respect that they used to have for the church, that’s a whole ’nother ball of wax. But I think that we’ve impacted the corner.
Ava Carubia [00:44:34] You’ve mentioned it briefly, but can you go into more detail about the ways that the church engages with the community?
Mark Smith [00:44:42] Monthly pantry, we’re doing probably about 400 to 500 individuals. We’re feeding at least once a month. We also actually have the event space that is open for this community. I need to talk a little bit more with a community development corp about how we can really engage there to make sure that maybe even your larger events. Because I think our room is a little bit bigger than yours. But we would be more than happy to talk about that to, to make that happen. That when they come to you for the room you guys can accommodate them, we’ll be the offshoot, we’ll be the extension. That’s one more way we’d like to get involved. And our little 30 right now, which is still getting off the ground is this esports initiative where we’re actually we’re going to open our doors up to the community and your youth, probably 13 to 19 or so. We’re really trying to attract them to come in. We were able to acquire the machines for that. And these are not just basic computers, little laptops. These are high speed machines that require that because if you have a slow machine, you’re going to lose the game and you have to have that kind of a power, a powerful machine to make that happen. So we were able to get a few of those machines. We got the chairs for it and we’ve made it. So it is very attractive to the young people to come in to just give them something to do. The whole push there is ultimately, in fact I’ve had some discussions with other churches so many years ago. As I said, I was born in the church, but they used to have what are called basketball leagues in the church where sanctuary would play against like a Holy Trinity, which is down the street. Holy Trinity would play against Grace. These are the three big churches on our street. At the basketball team, we get a gym and they play. And it was family orientated. It helped the camaraderie, etc. With the churches. Well, that’s gone away. So my theory, my strategy here is to put that same concept into play with these sports. So each church would have his or her own team and maybe we even, we expanded to have a business, have their team. So Miles Market team plays against Sanctuary’s team. And it doesn’t have to be. Well, all they need is technology. They put the headphones on and they’re talking. Miles Market is in this room. Sanctuary’s in that, our room. And they’re playing against each other and we can even. We spruce it up. They’re playing for something, money or something like that, some kind of a prize. Then you get championships. It could snowball. It really could. And what it does is give people something to do more than just hanging on the streets or what have you give these young people something to do. So yeah, that’s. Those are just a few little items that we’re doing.
Ava Carubia [00:48:23] Well, I’m gonna ask the final question that I always ask, which is what’s a message you’d like to leave for future generations?
Mark Smith [00:48:33] I would hope that something that I’ve done will leave a long lasting legacy by way of my interaction with people. Even if you don’t do anything, I think that I would like to say that you should try to help somebody else. And that’s been my whole perspective. Help somebody else. Not demeaning thyself, not putting yourself in harm’s way, not making it so that you are being degraded. But if you can help somebody else, I think that’s, that’s, that’s huge. And I think future generations, they can be more concerned about somebody else. You’re concerned about me, I’m concerned about her. And I think it just multiplies.
Ava Carubia [00:49:34] Thank you. Is there anything else that you’d like to add I didn’t ask you about?
Mark Smith [00:49:40] I think I’m good. I appreciate this time. I hope I did okay. Very first time I’ve really ever quote, unquote regurgitated in my life. Kind of sort of, but thank you. Yeah.
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