Let’s seek answers from state Sen. Jackson but let’s also applaud his church’s impact
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Following the money
It’s difficult, even impossible, to determine if earmarks are spent correctly. That leaves S.C. taxpayers in the dark about their money.
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Lawmakers sent $575K to a nonprofit tied to Richland Co. senator. So where did it go?
Let’s seek answers from state Sen. Jackson but let’s also applaud his church’s impact
SC officials troubled by senator’s financial ties to Richland County church’s nonprofit
Bible Way Church remains a difference-making asset to the Midlands community
Questions over funding projects prove lawmakers owe SC taxpayers more accountability
When I had a conversation with 83-year-old Naomi Wilson not long ago, we spoke by phone.
But I didn’t need FaceTime to be able to see the joy in her eyes as we talked.
Wilson, a lifelong Columbia resident, was telling me about the difference that the Dream Keepers senior center — which is overseen by a nonprofit created by Bible Way Church of Atlas Road — has made in her life.
And she had a lot to say.
“When we all get together, it’s like I’m with family,” Wilson said of bonding with the 15 to 20 other Dream Keepers who — in the days before COVID-19 and social distancing — would meet three times a week at the senior center.
“We have fellowship,” Wilson said. “We have Bible study. We have speakers who come in and give presentations. We exercise. We go on trips. We do crafts. We have coffee and a snack to eat. We talk with each other. We love each other.”
This wonderfully enthusiastic woman then stopped to chuckle — and to sum things up.
“The senior center is a huge part of my life and it’s had a big impact on my life,” Wilson said. “It would be hard for me to imagine what I’d be missing if the (Bible Way) church wasn’t providing this.”
These appreciative, heartfelt words by an active, engaged elder in our community shouldn’t be lost or overlooked in light of the extensive investigative report by The State’s Andrew Caplan on the public money received by the Midlands Community Development Corp., the nonprofit arm of Bible Way Church.
The church is one of Columbia’s largest, and its senior pastor is longtime state Sen. Darrell Jackson.
The report found that since 2007 an estimated $450,000 in public money — provided through legislative earmarks — has gone to the nonprofit yet can’t be totally accounted for. In addition, the State report identified another $124,000 that was received by the corporation but may not have been used in the proper required manner.
Caplan’s excellent work raises serious questions about accountability, transparency and ethics in how public money is being used.
And these questions deserve full and persuasive answers from state Sen. Jackson, a passionate and thoughtful public official who has certainly earned the widespread respect he enjoys across our community.
But it’s possible to demand Jackson give those answers and still admire and applaud the difference-making work that Bible Way Church of Atlas Road continues to do each day in the Lower Richland community — an area whose citizens have too often been overlooked, underserved and marginalized.
The church’s work — which ranges from launching the Dream Keepers senior center and Dream Catchers after-school program to developing housing and providing food for more than 800 area families during the pandemic — has been meaningful, significant and inspiring.
If you need any proof — and you have a few minutes to listen — just give a delightful octogenarian named Naomi Wilson a call.
Opinion Editor Roger Brown can be reached at (803) 771-8464 or by email at rjbrown@thestate.com. Follow him on Twitter@RBrown_SCOpin.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.