John C. Green’s intellect has earned him a reputation as one of the nation’s experts on the political landscape.His heart has moved him to be a faithful volunteer in the food pantry at an inner-city ministry that is dedicated to feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, nurturing children and strengthening families.“I’ve always been interested in helping the hungry,” said Green, director of the University of Akron’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. “My religious values teach me that we are to provide for those without the basics in life, and food is one of those essentials.”Every Wednesday morning, Green, 58, makes his way from his West Akron home to OPEN M, at 941 Princeton St. in South Akron. When he arrives, he goes directly to the food pantry to stock shelves or pack grocery bags for needy families and individuals.Looking more like an assembly-line worker than a university professor, Green quickly moves nonperishable items from the stocked shelves to the countertops along the wall. Once he methodically sorts all of the cans, boxes and bags of food, Green shifts his role to resemble a seasoned grocery bagger — packing the heavy items on the bottom and making sure the weight is distributed evenly. He fills the brown paper bags that sit inside plastic bags with handles and marks the outside as a way to identify whether the bag is for an individual or family order.Bobbie Boyer, food service manager at OPEN M, said Green is a tremendous help because he moves so quickly and has memorized the guidelines for what goes in each grocery order.“It’s just really nice to have somebody who wants to come in and bag food, because I am the only staff person here and it would be impossible for me to do all of this by myself,” Boyer said. “Without volunteers, like John, this place wouldn’t run.”Last year, the food pantry provided a three-day emergency supply of food to more than 5,500 adults and children. The pantry is stocked with food collected by organizations, civic groups and churches and purchased at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. The pantry also provides a monthly food giveaway and hot lunch program that served nearly 20,000 people last year.Although OPEN M (Opportunity for People Everywhere in Need Ministry) is located in South Akron, it serves residents throughout Summit County. It was established in 1968 as a mission of four Akron churches to serve the needy in Southwest Akron. Since then, it has grown to include the support of more than 100 affiliate businesses and churches.Balancing workOne of those churches, First United Methodist in downtown Akron, is where Green and his wife, Lynn, are members. Lynn Green, a career counselor, describes her husband of 32 years as “a complex man” who is very spiritual.“He’s just such an outgoing person. He’s expansive and big-hearted and sweet. All of those things attracted me to him. And while our relationship has grown and matured over the years, he’s still the same great guy that I married,” she said. “He has lots of different interests, and he is very concerned about his relationship with God and trying to do the right things. He is dedicated to the welfare of his students and others.“It is really important to him to balance his work, his spiritual life and his family. Volunteering at the food pantry helps fulfill his need to do something for others.” Green’s colleagues notice his benevolence.Stephen Brooks, who has been associate director at the Bliss Institute for 15 years, said Green exhibits his faith in the way he lives his life, including the way he treats others.“He’s not one of those people who wears his faith on his sleeve. He doesn’t need to tell you that he’s a person of faith, because you see it in the way he acts,” Brooks said. “Even though he is the director of the institute, I can’t say that I work ‘for’ him. He makes you feel, constantly, that you are working ‘with’ him and he is an ideal person to work with.”Green joined the University of Akron 23 years ago as a political science professor. Within months, he was promoted to lead the Bliss Institute, a nonpartisan program that trains students for work in politics.His work as a senior research adviser with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has made him an expert on the role of faith in American politics. The forum, a project of the nonpartisan think tank of the Pew Research Center, researches issues concerning religion and American society. Topics include abortion, gay marriage, stem-cell research and church-state controversies.Concern for less fortunateGreen, an Oklahoma native, considers Boulder, Colo., to be his hometown because that is where he graduated from high school. He received his undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Colorado and his doctorate in political science at Cornell University.He traces his concern for the less fortunate to the 10 years he and his family lived in a small village outside Lima, Peru. His family relocated there when Green was 7 for his meteorologist father (a former Methodist minister) to accept a position at a weather bureau.“There was a lot of hunger and need in Latin America. I was always impressed by how much my family had and others didn’t. In Peru, we were considered rich,” Green said. “The image of the poor people of Peru has always stayed with me, because many of them were neighbors who I went to school with. And my father was always socially conscious and made us aware of the inequalities in life, including those in the United States.”Green said he didn’t really become active in the church until he and his wife were young adults, raising their two children (now 30 and 27 years old).“My wife and I discovered that [church] was immensely helpful when it comes to raising children, especially with no family in the immediate area. We found the church to be a place of surrogate grandparents and aunts and uncles for our children,” Green said. “As I have gotten older, I’ve found religious doctrine to be less important than religious community. I find myself spiritually satisfied when I’m working with other people on a common cause. That’s why volunteering at OPEN M fits me well.”Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.