Diane Badger, Pastor of the Community Baptist Church in Marion, says her call to ministry happened late in life—about five years ago.

But her wish to serve others has always been with her.

“If you don’t get outside, you won’t prosper as a church or a person,” says Badger. “We always need to look for new opportunities.”

The church is still young, having been founded in 2004. Badger stepped in four years later.

A Buzzards Bay resident, Badger has been involved with non-profits and community service for a while, but she says her role at the church has been particularly heart-warming.

Service projects through the “Got Books?” and “Backpacks for the Homeless” projects have helped in big ways, she says.

“Got Books?” donation containers are used to collect reading materials, DVDs and CDs and raise funds. After the donations are collected by Got Books Inc. and resold, the host of the container gets a check. Badger says the church gets around $90 to $100 a month, which is put back into community service work.

“Everyone knows us as the ‘Got Books? Church’ now,” she says.

“Backpacks for the Homeless” has the church collecting backpacks and filling them with toiletries and clothing, which are then donated to local shelters.

This year 23 backpacks went to the Nights of Hospitality
shelter in Wareham. These two, along with the “Penny Project” coin-saving fundraiser, keeps Badger and the church busy. She says thousands of dollars are raised each year and given to places such as the Boys & Girls Club in Wareham, local schools and various shelters.

But it’s not all Badger’s doing—at least, that’s what she says.

“This congregation is awesome. They’re not looking for anything big. We feel bound to our community to help, and we have some good folks here.”

When she’s not busy working at the church or serving as a hospice chaplain three days a week, Badger likes to do genealogy work.

Her Ancestory.com account has roughly 24,000 total family members, and her home is filled with memories such as love letters dated 1847.

“It’s fun to start looking where you came from,” she says. “My poor kids, they grew up running around in graveyards looking for family.”

Badger says she has found ancestors in Indiana and the Midwest who started schools, as well as in South Carolina who worked with freed slaves.

“It’s so interesting to find their stories and learn about their lives,” she says. “Sometimes you find stories your own family never told you!”

Badger says she would love to get a genealogy group started in the area.

“There are so many resources being made available online these days,” she says. “You never know what you’ll find.”