GREENFIELD — A bitter chill snapped in the evening air, freezing puddles, causing huddled figures to pull into their jackets and turning Steve Chase’s breath to frost as he stood on Main Street outside Green Fields Market holding a cardboard sign with “compassion on the incarcerated” scrawled in green marker.
As Chase explained, he’s “just someone that has compassion for people that are hurting.”
Chase, a former pastor of 30 years, began collecting money from passersby on the streets of Greenfield to help eight inmates — who are in a Bible study group he leads at the Franklin County jail — make phone calls home over the holidays. So far, he’s collected a few hundred dollars, which he said will go a long way when converted to phone cards.
“Probably should be able to give each one of them about $50. It won’t be a ton, but it’ll be something — when you have zero, it’s something,” Chase said. “Christmas is a very difficult time for prisoners. I’m just trying to help them contact their families. I’m raising money for the guys in my group, for calling cards, to talk to their loved ones.”
The prison ministry is put on with the help of another Bible study group, also led by Chase, that meets in his home — many of those in the group have donated for the phone card initiative.
“The jail needs more people like you,” said a middle-aged former inmate — who declined to give his name — who had attended Chase’s weekly Bible studies while incarcerated at the Franklin County jail, and had stopped to shake his hand.
“This is a good man right here,” the former inmate added, before going on his way. “It’s wicked hard when you’re in there, and it’s nice to have good guys like this.”
Now retired, Chase pastored Forgiven Heart Church at 71 Wells St. until it closed a few years ago. Over the years, he’s traveled to 15 different nations as a missionary, including South Africa, where he met his wife, Marietjie Chase. Together, they have five children.
Since the church closed, Chase started a Christian online radio program at the Corporate Center. He also fills in occasionally as pastor at other churches, and hosts the in-home Bible study group, in addition to his Franklin County prison ministry.
Chase noted that this is the first time he’s raised money for a project like this, and said he intends to fundraise through Christmas Eve.
“I know what it’s like to be in jail, and how insidious addiction is,” Chase explained, relating that in his youth, he’d been addicted to drugs for years. Today, his past allows him to relate to those he ministers to.
“A lot of them have been through addiction. We’re in a plague right now — more people died of opioids this year than on the highway. I just felt impressed to come out here and help the guys out,” he said.
You can reach Andy Castillo
at: acastillo@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 263
On Twitter: @AndyCCastillo