DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. — It seems like everyone is talking about it! Gas prices. Many have seen the price of gas rise in recent months and weeks. With no sign of relief in sight, 11 churches in the community stepped in to ease the burden. However, the churches paid a bit of a higher cost than they expected when one station, they said, decided to raise its price temporarily.
Lines wrapped around several gas stations as 11 churches, in the Collective Empowerment Group, across Prince George’s County filled up tanks over the weekend.
Just doing the Lord's work is how Dr. Bobby Manning of First Baptist Church of District Heights described the day. “We believe that that's what the church is here for, to relieve the stress that our neighbors and our friends are experiencing, and that's what's most important to us,” Dr. Manning said.
Higher crude oil costs, tighter gas supplies and the war in Ukraine have contributed to pushing prices up across the country. With the national average price at $5 a gallon, many of us are rearranging our budgets to find the resources to top off the tanks.
“About $25,000 worth of gas we gave out collectively,” he said.
But there was one station that upped the price by $.10 a gallon during the hour and a half long giveaway, Pastor Manning said.
"They did raise the price while we were there. There was no explanation. At the end of the day, we were going to give the money away anyway. It didn't hurt us as much as they hurt the people that we were serving. They got less because the prices went up for that hour and a half that we served,” Pastor Manning said.
WUSA9 stopped by that station Sunday and noticed the price had been reduced. We reached out multiple times to the owner and never heard back, however, we spoke to a station manager who couldn’t provide a comment.
Delegate Nick Charles, who represents that area, tells WUSA9 he’s reached out to the Attorney General’s office to look into whether the gas station was intentionally price gouging.
Though frustrating at the moment, Pastor Manning said there was a lesson for them all to learn. “Everybody that's in our community doesn't necessarily want to serve our community. So it's just a lesson for me really and for our church leaders to make sure that we're partnering with people who love the community the way that we do,” he said.
Pastor Manning tells us that the churches plan to do another giveaway soon.
