“Our people are truly motivated to help churches get clean and stay safe, because people really do need them to be open,” says Cornbread Hustle's Cheri Garcia.
The pandemic has been particularly brutal to Texas. But there is at least one silver living to the Lone Star State’s COVID-19 cloud, namely, a free disinfection service for Dallas-area churches provided by the Cornbread Hustle staffing agency in partnership with Unite Health Share Ministries (UHSM).
To date, the Cornbread Hustle crews have disinfected about three dozen churches in and around Dallas, while UHSM stepped in to help finance the disinfecting and offer free telehealth and COVID-19 testing to church staff. The agency’s approach to making churches safe for attendees is worth noting by church designers.
The nitty-gritty
“Cornbread Hustle is a ‘staffing agency for second chances,’ meaning we help people coming out of prison and people in recovery find meaningful employment,” explains agency founder Cheri Garcia. (The agency’s whimsical name comes from Garcia’s habit of asking for – ‘hustling’-- other people’s uneaten cornbread during meals). “Well, the coronavirus crisis happened, and we started to lose our jobs. So, we decided to quickly pivot and create a disinfecting company.”
“Churches are ‘essential services’ when it comes to helping the homeless and society in general in times like these,” Garcia added. “Our people are truly motivated to help churches get clean and stay safe, because people really do need them to be open.”
“Churches are ‘essential services’ when it comes to helping the homeless and society in general in times like these." Cheri Garcia, Agency Founder, Cornbread Hustle
Usually Cornbread Hustle charges for its disinfection services. But thanks to financial support from UHSM, this staffing agency is able to disinfect Dallas-area churches at no charge to their congregations.
At the same time, Cornbread Hustle’s workers and the staff at churches they disinfect are receiving free medical care via UHSM’s Telehealth network, whose board-certified physicians are helping them stay healthy during the pandemic. “Cornbread Hustle is doing such good work for our churches that it would truly counterproductive for her staff to get ill,” says Christopher Jin, UHSM’s president. “That’s why we decided to help Cornbread Hustle’s people stay safe, by giving them access to free telehealth services through our organization.”
Cleaning strategies
Cornbread Hustle uses a three-person team in appropriate protective gear to disinfect churches and other buildings, after the surfaces inside have been cleaned of visible soil and other debris.
Cornbread Hustle, a prison inmate and rehab ministry, and non-profit Unite Health Share Ministries team up to help churches clean up--and open up.
The first person goes in with a backpack unit that sprays disinfectant on the interiors and its fittings. “Most people don’t know that you have to leave a disinfectant on a surface for a set period of time for it to kill germs,” says Garcia. “The solution we use stays on for at least one minute before wiping it off – we call this ‘the kill time’ – in order for it to be effective.”
The second person in the Cornbread Hustle disinfection team comes in with an electrostatic sprayer. “This unit positively charges the disinfectant’s atoms, so they will adhere to all kinds of surfaces, even upside down,” Garcia told CPM. “We use it to reapply disinfectant to high touch points, and to ensure any hard-to-get-at areas are sprayed properly.”
The final Cornbread Hustle team member does any final touch-ups, and then wipes the surfaces down after the disinfectant has done its job. Because the three members know their parts, the process goes fast.
“Depending on how big the church is, it usually within an hour to two hours and then they're done, the church is completely clean,” says Garcia. “The interesting thing that's happened is that some of the churches we did for free have become paying customers. That’s how much they value this service.”
Church disinfection by design
In providing free disinfection services to churches, Cheryl Garcia has picked up some tips that could be of use to church designers.
“So, whether you are being tasked by a church client to develop disinfection procedures for them, or disinfecting your own personal church, be sure to read the label on the bottle to find out the kill time." Cheri Garcia, Agency Founder, Cornbread Hustle
“First, the ‘kill time’ associated with any disinfectant is absolutely vital to its successful use, and this kill time varies from product to product,” says Garcia. “So, whether you are being tasked by a church client to develop disinfection procedures for them, or disinfecting your own personal church, be sure to read the label on the bottle to find out the kill time."
Second, it doesn’t take a highly skilled team to disinfect churches. just one that has been properly trained and outfitted with the right personal protective equipment (PPE), namely face masks and gloves. Social distancing is also important, which is why Cornbread Hustle’s teams respect these rules wherever they work.
“We give each team member a small bottle of hand sanitizer attached to a carabiner, which they wear on their person,” Garcia adds. “This way, when they’re not wearing gloves they are constantly cleaning their hands. This prevents them from transferring any infection that they might have picked up from an outside source – like opening a cooler door at a store to pick up a Red Bull – and bringing it into the church.”
This is why churches need to take hand washing, masks, and social distancing seriously, and to do regular disinfections themselves once services and other group gatherings have wrapped up.
She adds, “We’ve noticed that our employees clean their hands up to 10 times more than most people, because they don’t have to stop by a bathroom to access soap and water. This helps keep everyone safer."
Third, just because a church has been recently disinfected doesn’t mean that it will stay that way once people come back inside. This is why churches need to take hand washing, masks, and social distancing seriously, and to do regular disinfections themselves once services and other group gatherings have wrapped up.
Difference-makers
The combined efforts of Cornbread Hustle and UHSM are keeping churches open in the Dallas area – and their efforts are making a difference.
“In that time, the 400 homeless people they served were unable to get a shower or even a clean pair of underwear. Then our people came in and disinfected the church for free, allowing them to resume helping the homeless.” Cheri Garcia, Agency Founder, Cornbread Hustle
“One church we helped – Cornerstone Baptist Church – had been shut down for two weeks due to having some positive Coronavirus cases,” says Garcia. “In that time, the 400 homeless people they served were unable to get a shower or even a clean pair of underwear. Then our people came in and disinfected the church for free, allowing them to resume helping the homeless.”
In addition, UHSM donated the money to buy electronic thermometers for Cornerstone Baptist so that pastors could check each person’s temperature at the church door. “UHSM even extended their telehealth services to this group, because the church’s own physician had come down with COVID-19 and wasn’t available,” Garcia says. “Together, we were able to make a real difference.”
One closing note: Garcia is happy to share Cornbread Hustle’s disinfection knowledge with church designers and other officials worldwide. She can be reached through the agency’s website at www.cornbreadhustle.com.
