Church on the Corner: The pastor doing amazing work in Sheffield community

Since she was 17, Pastor Sallie Wilson has been going to the Church on the Corner in Southey Green where, she says, they were incredibly loving and caring to her.

Now, over three decades later, as pastor of the church, she is continuing to work in the community.

Sallie became a member of the congregation before taking her bible college training, leading to her becoming pastor in 2001. Sallie says she feels at home at the church and loves being a part of the church family.

"I absolutely love it, it is not just a church, it is a family, it’s more of a family feel,” she added.

"It is only a small church, small to medium size, but everyone looks out for everybody else so its really a family congregation.”

Throughout the pandemic, Sallie and her team have worked tirelessly to help others and keep everyone in the community safe and well.

The church kept the food bank going, which they run every Thursday serving people at the door to ensure everyone has food that really needed it.

They also delivered emergency food packages out to those who needed it, including the elderly, people that were isolating, and NHS workers. Sallie and her team also cooked meals, providing up to 80 meals a week at the height of the pandemic and delivering them to people in need.

"Anywhere we knew that was in need, we were taking a hot meal to them,” she explained. “We also did some cream teas, because the over 50s lunch club couldn’t come to us, once a fortnight, we would take a hot meal out to them as they couldn’t come into the building, and we also sent round cream teas and Easter packs to children in the community.

"We just did whatever we could in the community, if we saw a need then we tried to meet it."

The church also donated some care packages to care homes, including useful items such as toiletry sets for the residents.

"It wasn’t just me, I could not do it by myself, I had a team of volunteers with me that were working with me, and with some people being furloughed, they had more time to help, cooking meals and delivering them. One person cannot do that alone, I had a brilliant group of people helping me,” Sallie said.

Her work was made harder at the beginning of the pandemic when she contracted Covid-19, but this gave her time to reflect and see what others were also going through.

"I didn’t go to hospital, I was at home, but I was quite poorly, so it gave me a bit of appreciation of what people suffer through it personally,” she said.

"I did conduct some funerals for people that passed away of Covid, it has been a very very difficult time for families.

Sallie recently won an award for the amazing community work during the pandemic.

The award, from Safe Star and Sheffield Council, was in appreciation for community needs and all the work Pastor Sallie Wilson has done throughout the pandemic.