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Church parking near stadiums scores big in win-win for congregations and sports fans_我的网站

A |     CHESTER, Pa. -- The Eagles and the NFL might still be the sports favorites at Calvary Baptist Church, just outside Philadelphia. But many here are also rooting for a neighboring team which last year reached the championship game of Major League Soccer.Their new-found fandom is all about location — and revenue from parking. The Philadelphia Union plays at Subaru Park, a stadium beside the Delaware River just a few blocks from Calvary in the economically challenged city of Chester. Its poverty rate is among the highest in the metro area.As the Union continues to attract loyal fans and reach new heights, so have the blessings bestowed on this historic church where Martin Luther King Jr. attended as a seminarian.It has been crucial. Like many other Black Protestant churches, Calvary Baptist struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance fell, and along with it, funding. But the church has transformed its parking lot to accommodate game-day fundraisers, with volunteers from the congregation staffing the lots and selling spaces for $15 per vehicle.These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.“It’s been a blessing,” said Dickens, who on a recent game day proudly sported a Philadelphia Union hat. "Not only just to generate funding, but also to meet and minister to new people.”Across the nation, houses of worship located near stadiums — from Boston’s Fenway Park to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field — have opened their parking lots to legions of fans.For churches offering parking near pro-soccer stadiums, their coffers recently received an assist from the world’s best active player, Lionel Messi who joined an MLS roster this year. All 250 parking spaces at the Calvary lot were full when Messi’s Inter Miami played the Union.Jeffrey Scholes, co-author of “Religion and Sports in American Culture,” said churches like Calvary show a growing willingness to use “secular entities like sport for religious purposes” including, “continuing a ministry, feeding the poor, keeping the lights on, things that ideally churches do."In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly."“There’s just much more openness to different kinds of nonreligious tactics to perform the necessary functions of a church or synagogue or mosque,” Scholes said. It also offers an opportunity to share with fans the history of congregations like Calvary, which was founded in 1879 by a group of formerly enslaved Africans seeking freedom to worship.On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary. Chester has a notable cultural and industrial history, but now has economic difficulties that make Calvary's new parking revenue all the more appreciated.“For us, if it gives back to a cause, it makes it all the better,” Abe Gitterman, age 37 and Jewish, said before he paid the parking fee. Next to him, his 6-and 7-year-old sons pointed to the mural and asked parking attendant and church member Lisa Lewis if this was the same man they had learned about in school. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “It feels good,” she later said, “to tell them the history about the church.”It can also be fun. In Lubbock, Texas, Leslie Cranford, a parishioner at St. John’s United Methodist Church, said Texas Tech football fans have tailgated with RVs — taking up to four spots ($10 each) — in the church parking lot, near the Red Raiders' Jones AT&T Stadium. Sometimes, rival fans park at the church. “We tell them: we got to charge you extra!” Cranford said, laughing. She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said. "So, this helps us maintain our ministries.” In Boston, the Christian Science Church opened its parking garage to the public in 2014. That includes Red Sox fans who can park for $30 — a lower rate than closer to Fenway Park. Kevin Ness, manager of the Christian Science Committees on Publication, said the revenue helps cover the operating expenses of Christian Science Plaza, a popular tourist attraction which sits on top of the garage in the Fenway neighborhood. “This in turn allows the contributions from members to directly support the worldwide healing mission of the church,” he said. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bethany Church began its Packers parking program in 2010.“We thought it would be a great avenue for outreach, and a way to get funds to help support the growing ministries,” Bethany’s administrative assistant, Jill Connerym said via email. The church doesn’t have a set charge, and instead asks for donation, Connery said, adding that “many people are very generous.”Packers parking helps fund programs, including youth ministries, small group learning and building facility upgrades, Connery said. The church parking lot is often full on game days.“We are known for our hospitality,” she said. “We had a volunteer who began giving rides to Lambeau from our parking lot, free of charge to whoever didn’t want to walk the .5 miles to the stadium. So, now we are known for our shuttle service, and friendly volunteers.”Churches also have embraced other fans. Nashville First Church of the Nazarene offered their parking lots for three shows attended by thousands at nearby Nissan Stadium during the Nashville leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The parking program ($30 a spot) also is popular during Tennessee Titans games and has helped fund ministries in Nashville and missions in Haiti and Kenya.“Every one of these dollars comes right back in to help people,” said its senior pastor, Kevin Ulmet. “When people hear that, they love that, they say ‘we want to be a part of that.’ And that, to me, is the classic definition of win-win.”__Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.。    德林小学引进夹娃娃机和转盘等游戏作为培养学生自律的创新方式。理查尔（中间）说自推出游戏后，学生连续两个学期的迟到情况明显减少。（取自早报网） （新加坡讯）新加坡一所小学引进抓娃娃机和转盘等游戏，不仅让学生上学体验更有趣，还鼓励他们培养良好行为。

B | 学生的迟到现象在两个学期内明显减少，上课更为专注，作业也能按时完成。《联合早报》报道，德林小学于2022年第四学期采用游戏方法鼓励学生，协助改善纪律问题和培养他们的积极行为。家长和教师都对该计划表示满意，认为游戏能激励学生通过守时和良好表现，获取玩转盘（Wheel of Thrill）或抓娃娃机的机会。

C | 游戏分两种，所有学生都能参与。其中在“任务卡”游戏中，学生通过完成教师布置的课堂任务来收集印章，如准时到校和一起专心上课。学校内还设有各“任务区”，让学生在区内通过良好行为如遵守秩序等获取印章。另一种挑战式游戏由教师设定目标，如让学生在尝试解答数学题前划出关键词等以获取印章。学生一旦积累一定数量的印章，就可转动轮盘来赢取限量版贴纸或硬币，并用它们来玩抓娃娃机。学校共有两台抓娃娃机，设在靠近食堂的角落。为让全校师生参与游戏，学校还设计视频和网站来创造故事，让学生体验当中角色的冒险之旅。学生管理主任理查尔说：“通过将游戏元素融入日常任务和挑战中，学生更愿意积极参与，并改善行为和学业表现。”家长何幸妆（42岁，家庭主妇）育有三名孩子，其中两名孩子有机会参加游戏并赢得娃娃。她说：“孩子赢得娃娃后，回到家和家人自豪地分享在学校获得奖励的事，并期待下一次还有机会玩抓娃娃机。”尽管在推出游戏后面临一些挑战，如高年级学生的反应不如低年级学生的热情，但这并不影响学校继续推行这种新方式。理查尔说：“我们必须尝试不同的方式，来与Z时代的孩子沟通和教导他们。

D | 要在新旧方法之间找到平衡，才能有效地与他们沟通并让他们学习。”     中正中学（义顺）去年也实施了一项名为“我做好事被发现”（I Was Caught Being Good）的倡议，旨在通过小而有意义的方式激励学生采取积极主动的行为，这些好事可包括主动帮助同学，或帮助老师打扫教室。学生管理部主任奈尔回复记者询问时说，该倡议取得良好成效，不仅肯定学生的积极行为，还加强家长和学校间的关系，为学生提供安全、有利的成长环境。当发现学生做了某件好事，教师们会发放“我做好事被发现”的小卡片，在背面写上对学生行为的肯定和鼓励，并让学生把卡片带回家给父母看。

E | 同时，班主任和家长会收到关于学生良好行为的通知，学校也会在早上公开表扬。最近有一名学生在学校救了一只小鹦鹉，并为它制作临时容器，给它喂水。学生还积极与关爱动物研究协会（ACRES）合作，联系协会收养这只小鹦鹉。学生的善举得到了教师和家长的赞扬，也在班上分享，成为校内一件受人瞩目的事迹。

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