Covenant News

Congregation Demonstrates Its Faith Through Its Actions

WEST PEABODY, MA (November 30, 2001) - A church in the East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church found a practical way to help one of its parishioners, raising more than $10,000 for a member of the congregation.

Dan Maloney is an installation engineer for General Electric and lives with muscular dystrophy. The degenerative nature of the condition makes it difficult for him to use a standard vehicle to drive to his office.

After Maloney bought a specialized wheel chair-accessible van in January, Community Covenant in West Peabody decided to conduct a fundraising drive to help Maloney offset the cost of the vehicle.

While a few major donations have been received from some individuals, virtually everyone has become involved. Children contributed change to a large jug at the church as part of a "Pennies for Prayers" project that collected nearly $1,000. Neighbors, the local Lions Club and others in the community also contributed funds to help Maloney pay for his van.

"We were very grateful, obviously, and surprised about the amount of money they could raise," said Maloney, who has been at the church nearly 10 years. "I think it gave the kids a tremendous sense of ownership. It was great."

Maloney has served on the church council at Community Covenant and was on the search committee that helped call pastor Joel Anderle. Maloney and his wife, Stephanie, have two children and he enjoys getting involved in his kids' activities. Recently, he and other parents played beach volleyball with the church youth group and Maloney's friendliness extends to children of all ages.

"I have a three-year-old daughter who goes over and honks the horn on his (Maloney's) scooter all the time," joked Anderle. "He's a very affable man and he's very public around kids. They see him and recognize him and recognize that it (the reality of physical disabilities) is a part of life."

Anderle considers Maloney a reflective person and said he has been open about talking about the degeneration in his body. Maloney's willingness to interact with others and his passion for living life to the fullest has been noticed.

"Dan has sought to live his life in a way so that he will remain active in his church, as a father, and will engage in activities as best as his body can let him," Anderle said. "It's a spiritual challenge - he has recognized the great gifts God has given him. And even as he loses his ability to move, he is going to engage the world with everything that he can."

Anderle believes Community Covenant has grown in many other ways because of Maloney and the fundraising effort. "Folks have really sought to try to help Dan in his situation," Anderle said. "We tried to make this a communal experience and one of the things the church has talked about is how this (disability) will affect Dan. When we think about events we think, 'Can Dan come to this event? Or, is this going to be accessible to Dan?'"

For more information about the church or the fundraising efforts for Maloney, call Anderle at 978-535-5321.

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