Clovis church shows kindness to seniors

Faith Christian Family Church is hoping to give back to the seniors citizens who have given so much through its “Conspiracy of Kindness” campaign.

Several area businesses have partnered with the Clovis church to provide free oil and filter changes and car washes Aug. 24-25 to all senior citizens ages 60 and older.

“Sometimes, it’s hard for people to believe it’s free, but it is,” said Maurice Monson, associate pastor at Faith Christian. “We just want to thank all senior citizens for the sacrifices they’ve made through the years. The Bible tells us to be kind to one another. This is what we call a ‘Conspiracy of Kindness.’ ”

“We just want all senior citizens in the community to come out and be blessed,” said Levan Poller, assistant minister at the church. “We’re doing this to be a blessing to them, and to show the love of God to them. There will be no tips, no donations taken. It’s all free — oil change, filter change, vacuuming the interior of the vehicle and washing the exterior.”

“We’re doing it because the senior citizens in our community have given so much to us — their wisdom, their sacrifices — so we want to give something back to them,” Poller said. “Those businesses partner with us, and they don’t charge us anything. The oil is donated; the technicians’ time is donated. Everyone is doing it as a gift back to the community.”

The businessmen who volunteer product, labor and services expressed similar sentiments.

“It’s a very small, small price to pay to our wonderful community of senior citizens we have here,” said Gary Hamilton, owner of Hamilton Big Country Ford.

“We’ve done it ever since they asked us to be a part of it,” said Bart Barton, manager at Richard Barton Pontiac-Buick-GMC. “It’s just doing something nice for the community. We average about 45 to 50 oil changes during the day. They come out in droves. We see a lot of our regular customers who come out. It’s free. I think it’s a great thing to do.”

Last year, 427 cars came out to take advantage of the Conspiracy of Kindness event, Poller said.

“We’d like to do 500 this year — as many as we can,” Monson said. “People ask us why we do this. We do it because we love the people — we love our senior citizens. We want to show them kindness. It’s a joy just to be able to serve them.”

The free services will take place t the following businesses:

Aug. 24 (1 p.m. to 6 p.m.)

• Bender Dodge-Chrysler, 3400 Mabry Drive;

• Express Lube & Wash, 2210 N. Prince St.;

• Grease Monkey, 1401 N. Prince St.;

• Richard Barton Pontiac-Buick-GMC, 3300 Mabry Drive.

Aug. 25 (2 p.m. to 5 p.m.)

• Hamilton Big Country Ford, 2400 Mabry Drive;

• Hamilton GM Country, 42447 U.S. Highway 70, Portales.

In addition, the following businesses and individuals will provide services and/or materials for the event: Pennzoil/Quaker State, Pepsi, A-Key Storage, Master’s Books & Gifts, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Contemporary Benefits, FrozFruit, Wal-Mart and X-treme Auto Glass.