In Doddridge County, some voters want the government to step aside — and churches to step up

WEST UNION — As night fell at the Doddridge County Fair, a tent was brightly lit from inside, inviting passers-by to stop in and learn about the goals of the West Virginians for Life Doddridge chapter.

The annual fair draws people from around the region for live music, carnival rides and quintessential fair food like funnel cakes, hot dogs and ice cream.

But this booth was set up for political reasons. This election season, Charles Northrop, president of the chapter, said he’d like to hear candidates supporting a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban physician-assisted suicide — although the practice is already banned under state law .

This is part of Mountain State Spotlight’s effort to speak with residents in all 55 West Virginia counties in the run-up to the 2024 election and ask a simple question: What do you want to hear candidates talking about as they compete for your vote?

Underneath the white tent in the park, Northrup said people are struggling with poverty, transportation, hunger and housing. But he added that the government should limit spending and instead, churches need to step up to help their neighbors.

“I think the churches have really failed,” he said. “They are starting to be aware of the drug problem. They are starting to be aware of children not being taken care of properly.”

About 15 miles up Rt. 50 in Salem, a town just across the line in the sparsely-populated western part of neighboring Harrison County, his church has made strides.

Since it opened a decade ago, Horizons Church has established a food pantry and began offering twice-a-week hot meals for people in the region.

It also offers faith-based recovery support groups and bus transportation to drug treatment.

Northrop said churches’ efforts to help with societal problems are improving, but they were delayed. He also suggested there’s more they could do.

For instance, if congregants know each other well, a churchgoer might donate an old vehicle to another in need or rent a home to them for cheap.

“The church is family,” Northrop said.

And, he said, if churchgoers live in a Christ-like manner, they may attract neighbors to join them.

“Christians should be Christians, not just in name, but in life,” he said.

When the government expands services, like those to help people with low incomes or substance use disorder, he said systems meant to help become too expensive and complicated to navigate.

“I don’t believe in the separation of church and state,” Northrop said. “It’s been misinterpreted.”

Although in some areas, he does see roles for the government — he said child neglect, which is often connected to poverty , could possibly be prevented with education on parenting and life skills like budgeting.

Del. David Kelly, a Republican who represents Doddridge, Tyler and Wetzel counties, said the government should not completely step aside from helping people.

“We need government involvement, but we do encourage church involvement in the community with helping people in need,” he said.

Residents and Kelly both said health care is one area where government services are beneficial.

“Most of us are for less government involvement, while at the same time, we realize that we have to be involved with Medicaid, with health care, with trying to get folks the help that they need,” Kelly said.

A Wetzel County pastor himself, he said his church offers a Thursday night recovery group and it has been successful. But more needs to be done to help people with addiction.

“I think we need to be involved as much as we can be in our local communities with these efforts — churches and government officials,” he said.

Back at the Doddridge County Fair, Mike Allen, who pastors the church where the Northrops attend, was also working at the West Virginians for Life booth.

In a county where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 5-to-1, those interviewed said they want limited government.

In recent years, Allen and his church, made up of Doddridge and Harrison county residents, have taken it upon themselves to help people with substance use disorder.

Along with offering transportation to treatment, as well as religious support groups at the church, they are in the beginning phases of opening a nonprofit, faith-based recovery residence, also known as a sober living home, in Salem.

Allen’s son died of a fentanyl overdose three years ago.

The pastor noted that even though his church was already active in the recovery community, that didn’t save his son.

“It happens to everybody, everywhere,” he said.

Allen sees people with substance use disorder will come to a few group meetings, then decide to enter a treatment program.

But he said after they graduate, they need to stay at a recovery residence with others in recovery to maintain their sobriety.

“It’s hard to find them housing,” he said. “It’s hard to find them employment. And so the sober living house is a real important aspect. That is kind of the next step.”

In nearby West Union, the Doddridge county seat, churches are on nearly every corner. Many offer help with needs like utility and food assistance. But around town, health care providers are few and far between.

Although places like Ritchie Regional Health Center provide some services, more specialized health care, like long-term drug treatment or recovery residences, isn’t available in the county.

Sitting on her porch next to the Shop N Save in West Union one sunny afternoon, this lack of options was on Mary Phillips’s mind. She said she wants lower taxes and more support for the oil and gas industry, but she also wants more in-home caregivers for people with disabilities. These programs receive state funding.

Her husband Tim, 59, has had three strokes and struggles to speak. Phillips said she, too, has had a multitude of health conditions for years and had hip surgery a few months ago. She uses a walker and he uses a wheelchair.

She said the county — like others throughout the state — needs workers who can give family caregivers breaks, who can assist with showering and laundry and who can perform tasks like checking for bed sores and blood pressure.

Those workers are in short supply , especially in the most rural parts of the state.

And Phillips and Tim are in a particularly tough situation, because he isn’t old enough to qualify for at-home care.

“We have to try to depend on a system that’s supposed to be for us, but it is broken,” Phillips said.

On this day, Phillips’s sister-in-law Joann Golden helped take some packages from a postal worker, lifting them over a short fence keeping their small dogs, Bella and Midnight, on the porch. Then she sat down on the porch swing to talk about the need for more caregivers and health care.

Golden said she has her own health problems, but tries to help.

“I do what someone else should do,” she said. “I drive to doctors. I do showers. I help with meals. I help with cleaning. I help with just what normally has to be done.”

She regularly comes over to visit and to help.

“I couldn’t do it on my own,” Phillips said.

In Doddridge County, some voters want the government to step aside — and churches to step up appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight , West Virginia's civic newsroom.