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

一 |     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.。    近日，沈阳市体育彩票中心打造“一顺百顺 嗨翻盛夏”线下综合主题活动登陆沈阳和平环宇城主会场，联动23家沈城体彩门店同步掀起全城宣传热潮。本次活动以“安心购彩 守护热爱”为核心主线，统筹推进“安心守护”责任彩票商圈落地、世界杯竞猜正向科普、“顺”等顶呱刮新品体验、公信展示四大板块，创新采用商场主会场+线下门店分会场全域联动模式，融合趣味互动、公益宣讲、合规科普多元形式，全方位彰显体彩温暖公益底色与规范运营公信力，向广大市民传递理性、健康、快乐的购彩新风尚。

二 | 全域场景联动，趣味互动解锁沉浸式体彩体验本次活动跳出传统门店宣传框架，搭建起商场主阵地、全城门店多点开花的立体宣传矩阵，覆盖不同年龄、不同圈层市民，打造氛围感拉满的线下体验空间。主会场精心划分公信公示区、竞彩科普区、即开互动区、安心守护反诈宣传区四大特色板块，配套齐全的体验道具、清晰的打卡布景；各门店分会场统一布置、同步开展配套活动，全城同频共振，处处洋溢着热闹鲜活的活动氛围。现场以寓意美好的“顺”系列即开票为互动载体，打造四大主题战队刮票PK挑战赛。从购票登记、现场刮奖到奖金核验，全程都有工作人员贴心引导，专属记录员和参与者共同核对中奖金额、留存彩票凭证，实时更新的中奖排行榜大屏全程公示，多层交叉核验机制全程在线，每一个环节公开透明，让大家安心参与、放心比拼。活动期间，门店分会场惊喜爆出6万元幸运大奖，这份重磅好运瞬间传遍全城，将“顺心顺意好事发生”的美好祝愿送到每一位市民身边。

三 | 不少参与者感慨，现场流程规范细致、服务贴心周到，看得见的公平公正，新颖有趣的互动形式，也让大家真切读懂体彩扎根公益、服务群众的初心。聚焦世界杯热潮，生动科普传递竞彩理性正能量恰逢2026美加墨世界杯热潮，活动专门打造趣味竞彩科普专区，搭建起球迷与购彩爱好者的沟通桥梁，推动观赛人群与购彩群体双向交融。展区摆放图文展板，搭配趣味问答、一对一细致讲解，用通俗易懂的语言拆解正规竞猜投注规则、透明开奖机制，清晰划清合法竞彩与非法赌球的边界。工作人员现场向市民科普，赛事竞猜只是增添观赛乐趣的休闲方式，绝非投机暴富的捷径，反复倡导“娱乐为主、理性参与”的健康理念。现场也向广大球迷发出暖心倡议，在尽情享受足球赛事魅力的同时守住理性投注底线，拒绝盲目大额投入，轻松感受观赛与竞猜结合的独特乐趣。坚守责任初心，全流程落地安心购彩守护行动“安心购彩 守护热爱”的理念贯穿活动每一处细节，用看得见、摸得着的实操流程，生动诠释体彩公信建设的扎实底气。活动搭建完整闭环式中奖核验体系：市民刮奖后填写专属中奖确认表，与现场记录员共同核对奖金数额、留存彩票票据，所有数据实时汇总至主会场动态更新榜单，线上巡查岗同步抽查复核，层层把关确保赛事比拼真实公平。现场同步铺开理性购彩、反诈防骗主题宣传，结合真实典型案例，细致拆解网络私彩、线上非法购彩的各类诈骗陷阱，反复提醒大家线下实体门店是唯一合法购彩渠道，纸质彩票是唯一有效兑奖凭证。展区醒目摆放守护未成年人、防范购彩沉迷主题展架，工作人员主动劝导适度娱乐，严格落实禁止向未成年人售彩相关要求。商圈办展的形式打破地域限制，市民无需专程前往门店，逛街途中就能轻松学习购彩反诈知识，接地气的线下宣讲收获一众市民好评。深耕公益底色，多元线下场景赋能城市民生发展这场商圈主题活动，是沈阳体彩拓宽年轻化宣传渠道、推进责任彩票线下普及的创新实践，生动诠释体彩“公益为先”的核心使命。现场工作人员向市民细致讲解，每一张体育彩票的购彩资金，都会汇聚成公益力量，持续投入全民健身场地建设、民生保障等公共事业，将一张小小的彩票、一份简单的娱乐，与城市公益发展紧紧相连，让市民真切感受购彩背后沉甸甸的社会价值。沈阳市体育彩票中心相关负责人表示，沈阳体彩将持续走进商圈、社区等多元线下场景，持续打造更多亲民有趣、氛围感十足的品牌互动活动，持续传递竞彩正向价值、体彩公信力量与温暖公益底色，以丰富多元的线下宣传载体，持续助力沈阳群众体育事业与城市公益建设稳步前行。

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