Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry names new executive director
Kevin Bates to succeed retiring Cheryl Wilson in nonprofit leadership role
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 18, 2022
Kevin Bates has been named the new executive director of the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry. Photo by Fred McCormick
A Black Mountain-based nonprofit organization that has supported local residents in meeting basic needs for nearly 50 years has named a new executive director.
The Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry appointed Rev. Kevin Bates to fill the leadership role of Cheryl Wilson, who will retire in December after holding the position for six years.
Bates, a Black Mountain resident and co-founder of the Way In the Wilderness ministry, was named Wilson’s successor, Oct. 11, following a vote by the SVCM Board of Directors.
“I’m deeply honored and absolutely thrilled,” said Bates, who met with Wilson and employees of the nonprofit the morning after the board announced its decision. “It’s an amazing thing to have people’s trust in this sort of way, and that resonates deeply within me, in the sense that this is the community that God called me to lovingly serve and to raise my family.”
Bates, an ordained member of the clergy with a master’s degree from the Duke University Divinity School, moved to the Swannanoa Valley with his family in 2019, after serving four years as a Methodist minister in Hominy Valley.
He established Way In the Wilderness with co-minister Kevin Miller shortly after arriving in Black Mountain.
“The two of us felt a calling to leave our church buildings and serve God in an entire community,” Bates said. “We felt we were no longer called to a specific congregation, but to serve here in the Upper Swannanoa River Watershed.”
It was a familiar place for Bates.
“I used to come here when I was kid, and my wife was born and raised in Swannanoa,” he said. “I remember walking down Cherry Street as a child, and that’s where I had my first Dr. Pepper. In so many ways, this place is what ‘home’ looked like to us.”
As he explored ways to serve fellow members of the community, Bates began to developed a broad understanding of the needs within it.
“We walk a lot, and we see a lot of people who kind of go unseen, and a place like SVCM talks to them every week,” he said. “We encounter people who are experiencing loneliness, or mental health issues or addiction, and then there are the wider social issues like lack of affordable housing and food deserts in areas of Swannanoa.”
While the community’s awareness of the challenges facing neighbors is high, according to Bates, SVCM has a unique opportunity to help channel that into action.
“This is a place with a lot of people who care about so many issues,” he said. “But, our question has been how do we move from an ethic of care to an ethic of love. Caring always puts you above somebody else, but love puts you side by side, in a relationship as equals. We do caring well here in this community, but being with each other is the harder thing to do.”
Founded in 1975 by a small coalition of area churches, SVCM is currently supported by more than two dozen churches of various denominations. The organization, which is operated by six employees and more than 200 volunteers, provides services to clients through several programs, including its food pantry, heating and electric assistance programs and holiday toy and food drives.
In 2018, SVCM opened Hope for Tomorrow, a housing program that allows young single mothers to pursue an education in a stable independent environment.
Cheryl Wilson will retire in December after serving as the director of the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry since 2016. Photo by Fred McCormick
“The support we received to get that done was tremendous. We raised $1.2 million to complete it,” said Wilson, who calls the Hope for Tomorrow project one of the highlights of her time with the ministry. “Today, that program can accommodate eight families, and it’s an amazing way to help them get on their feet.”
Deck the Trees, an annual fundraiser benefitting the SVCM Fuel Fund, which provides heating assistance for local residents in the winter, has raised nearly $200,000 since 2011.
While the generosity of the community has been a “blessing” for the people served by SVCM, Wilson said, there remains an increasing demand for assistance in the Swannanoa Valley. The ministry served 823 households in 2021, with 191 of those homes representing new clients. Its food pantry served nearly 150 households each month.
“The needs evolve and change over the years, like right now, with the rising cost of fuel, we know we need to raise more money to support the Fuel Fund this year,” she said. “The generosity and compassion of this community has been heart-warming, and that’s something I hope continues well into the future.”
Wilson believes Bates’ emphasis on maintaining and building relationships with partners and clients will strengthen SVCM.
“This is an amazing community, and creating strong bonds with the people in it is such a big part of what the ministry does,” she said. “Kevin truly understands that, and he really wants to nurture those connections and create new ones.”
That will start with listening, according to Bates.
“Before you start offering solutions, you have to listen to the stories of the people in a community,” he said. “This position will take a lot of listening at first, and learning the stories of this organization and the churches that support it while continuing to be resource for our neighbors who come here for support. I plan on spending a lot of time sitting on this front porch and talking to people, trying to understand the best ways we can help.”