Edith Snider: Lifelong Ambassador
Jul 01, 2010
For some, the 1930s may seem like a lifetime ago, but to Edith Snider, it marks the beginning of a lifetime of
service to the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH). Edith began volunteering for what was then the Children’s Home in the 1930s alongside her father. Edith’s father had been orphaned as a child, and because of that, he taught his children the significance of the Children’s Home. Edith helped her father load food from local farms onto the train cars to be delivered to the Children’s Home in Troy.
“We would collect food for the Children’s Home and haul it down to Troy. We started gathering money because there was not any canned food. We started taking up donations, and that’s still what we do now,” Edith said.
Donations are a large part of Edith’s involvement with the Children’s Homes today. For many years, she has been making baskets and taking them to her Sunday School class and to the church services at Fellowship Baptist Church in Coker. Children bring change that they have collected to put in the baskets.
Edith said, “The children are 3, 4 and 5 years old, and it just tickles them to come in my Sunday School class and put their change in the little baskets.”
Edith has never stopped serving ABCH. Her father served as a Volunteer Associational Ambassador for Pickens, and when he passed away, Edith’s husband took over. When Edith’s husband, Elton Snider, passed away, Edith took the role on herself. Now, at age 90, Edith serves as the ambassador for Pickens and has held that position for 11 years.
“Ms. Edith embodies a faithful servant of Lord to the fullest,” Steve Sellers, ABCH Church Relations Manager, said. “For many years she has served the Lord in the Pickens Baptist Association faithfully, and she has stood in the gap for the children and families that we minister to day in and day out. She has been an ambassador for our ministry even before we had ambassadors."
Edith said that it has always been important to her for children to have a mother and father. She also said that the children who don’t have parents should be taken care of. This lesson, in conjunction with the mission of ABCH, has been passed down through generations by Edith and her family.
Gary Farley, the Director of Missions for Pickens Association, said, “I’ve been reading a book about growing old in America, and our culture is kind of split. One the one hand, we honor old folks, on the other, we tend to be a culture of youth. So it’s neat when you have an older person advocating for the youth.”
Edith speaks at the associational meetings each year as a liaison to communicate what ABCH is doing, what kind of support ABCH needs and how the association can help.
“She keeps us all focused on being James 1:27 Christians,” Farley said. James 1:27 (ESV) says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Volunteering has been another place where Edith has been able to serve ABHC. She volunteers at The Baptist Center which is a thrift store that is a combined ministry of all 36 churches in the Pickens Association. By volunteering at The Baptist Center, Edith is extending her contribution to Children’s Homes because the center serves as a monetary donor as well as a devoted supporter of ABCH.
Janet Estis with Pickens Baptist Association who also serves as a Children’s Homes Ambassador, said, “Edith really connects with people. Her passion and excitement for the Children’s Homes is contagious and she tries to instill her passion into other people.”
Click here for information on serving as a Volunteer Associational Ambassador.
Click here for information on serving as a Volunteer Associational Ambassador.
By Jessica Sansom
ABCH Communications Intern