Church eases pain at the pump

A rare sighting happened Saturday morning at a local gas station: People were smiling about the price of gas.

Yuma Community Church partnered with Sellers Petroleum, 821 S. Pacific Ave., to sell $2 gas to customers from 9 to 11 a.m.

"I think it's great," said Logan Gray, who drove by, saw the sign and gassed up a few minutes later.

"I think it's nice. They should do it all the time," said Raul Duarte, who waited in the gas line for about five minutes.

Martha Young said her son called her from the Marine base to tell her about the $2 gas. Since he was working, he wanted her to take advantage of it.

Yuma Community Church paid $1 per gallon in order to drop the price of gas from $3 to $2.

"Our church is fairly new. We want to show the city how much God loves them, not just in a spiritual way, but in a practical way," said Pastor Jason Taylor.

Taylor said there was a steady flow of customers all morning. About 25 church volunteers directed traffic, handed out bottled water and talked to customers.

Sellers employees pumped gas. Each customer paid $20 for 10 gallons.

"I can't take any credit for this," said Dave Sellers, owner of Sellers Petroleum. "I'm just the vehicle to spread the wealth to this community."

Yuma Community Church plans to complete "kindness projects" for the community once a month. Their next event will be at Hastings Books Music and Videos at midnight July 21 when the new Harry Potter book is released. Barbara Legan, Kindness Project coordinator, said they plan to hand out water and book markers to the people in line.

The church has about 120 members and holds services at 10 a.m. Sunday in the Desert Mesa Elementary School cafeteria, 2350 S. Avenue 7-1/2E.