VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/9/10)—Rev. Jane Esdale, founder and former director of Cameron Community Ministries, Rochester, N.Y., died on Wednesday, February 24, at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., after a three-week illness. She was 62 years old.
Esdale was a graduate of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y., and an ordained American Baptist minister. She began her career in 1984 by working with the American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee Region and the Presbytery of Genesee Valley to found Cameron Community Ministries (CCM), a faith-based urban outreach ministry to a neighborhood in need. The first programs were hospitality and food for seniors, which grew to a daily free hot lunch program. Children’s programs after school and in the summer have been offered for many years. CCM took over the Clothing Closet from Lake Avenue Baptist Church in 1984.
In a 2005 interview Esdale said, “I feel called by God to stand in solidarity with people whose lives are assaulted by poverty. Whatever I can do to be part of the solution is what I believe God is asking me to do.”
Rev. James Renfrew, who served on the CCM Board of Directors in those early years, recalls being skeptical that the ministry would succeed. But Jane Esdale proved him wrong. “Her wonderful personality, generous spirituality, boundless enthusiasm and good humor…helped establish a premier faith-based community center that continues to this day.” Renfrew says, “She was deeply interested in every aspect of the lives of all the Cameron participants, and there was not time enough in a day—or a lifetime—to keep up with all of the opportunities for ministry that she would see around her….Jane’s spirit continues to inhabit that building on Rochester’s west side and the hearts of the countless people whose lives were touched by her.”
Esdale directed Cameron Community Ministries for 13 years. From 1997 until her death Esdale worked for several nonprofit organizations, including the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the Second Harvest Food Bank, Wedgewood Baptist Church (Charlotte, N.C.), and most recently the Robeson County Church and Community Center.
Survivors include her husband, William Brown; daughter, Sarah Mouwen; siblings and other relatives; and many dear friends and working associates.
A memorial service was held Saturday, February 27, at the First Baptist Church in Lumberton, N.C. The burial will be at a later date in Esdale’s home state of Michigan. Donations in her memory should be made to the Robeson County Church and Community Center, 600 W. 5th St. Lumberton, NC 28358.
Cameron Community Ministries is one of 17 National Ministries Neighborhood Action Program Christian centers—community-based ministries serving in rural and urban neighborhoods in the United States and Puerto Rico. In 2009, these centers supported more than 30,000 families and more than 100,000 persons in ministries of care and development that provided food, rent assistance, afterschool and summer programs, transportation and home repair. All centers have a mission of renewing hope as they provide care.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.