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Families across America have been slammed with unprecedented challenges as inflation continues to propel food and gas prices to baffling highs. Now, one pastor out of North Carolina is helping families in need to offset the financial burden.
Pastor Brian Carn of the Kingdom City Church recently launched his “Gas on God” event, where he personally donated a whopping $10,000 worth of free gas to residents living on the west side of Charlotte.
“Whenever people have to make a choice between gas and children going to school or eating, it’s a real tragedy,” he told Spectrum News 1. The Kingdom City Church provided gas to more than 300 drivers in addition to grocery gift cards to struggling families. Volunteers from the church prayed with attendees and offered words of encouragement as they waited to fill up their gas tanks at the Mobil gas station near 3814 Brookshire Blvd.
“We got to get out here. People are hurting. People have situations,” Carn told Charlotte’s local news station, WCNC. “One man literally pushed his car up here, was out of gas. Another lady came and said, ‘I don’t need gas, but I need prayer.’”
Angela Ashley, a volunteer helping out the event, echoed a similar sentiment.
“All this stuff going on in the world, so we’re trying to make sure everybody got gas and everything, food, whatever. There’s a shortage of everything, so we’re trying to be a blessing to the people,” she said.
Americans have been hit hard by soaring gas prices. The national price of gasoline skyrocketed this month, with the average rateclimbing to $4.07 a gallon, according to the New York Times. The last time gasoline prices were this steep was during the 2008 financial crisis when a gallon cost roughly $5.37 after inflation was adjusted. The move comes as Americans are already fraught with the COVID-19 crisis and Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine, which has inadvertently impacted the rising price of gasoline.
Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil suppliers, although the U.S. only receives a small portion of crude oil per day from the country, the Federal Reserve has upped the price of gas to offset the loss. Oil traders globally have sidelined gasoline coming from Russia out of fear of their inability to close deals due to sanctions placed on Russia’s banking system, CNBC noted. Earlier this month, President Biden placed a ban on Russian imports including oil, natural gas and coal.
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