printer
Well-Known Member
Steinbach pastor says he's been flooded with angry messages after being featured in vaccine campaign
'People would call ... and say I'm going to hell,' says Kyle Penner after hearing from anti-vaccine crowd
A Steinbach pastor says he's been getting abusive phone calls, emails and Facebook messages since becoming part of a provincial campaign encouraging Manitobans to get vaccinated.
Kyle Penner, an associate pastor at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, is one of the faces of the Manitoba government's Take a Seat ad campaign, which features various community members talking about the importance of getting vaccinated so Manitobans can get back to the shared experiences they love.
Penner also wrote an article for the campaign's website about his decision to get vaccinated and his experience doing so.
After the ads went live on social media last week, people started commenting on his public Facebook posts, questioning his faith and accusing him of taking money to be part of the campaign, which he says isn't true.
Penner said he thought he'd seen the last of the nasty messages, until he showed up for work on Monday, where he was welcomed with dozens of angry voicemails and emails.
"Then my phone rang a bunch today [Tuesday] and they just really wanted to tell me I was wrong," he said.
While he was prepared for some criticism, Penner says he underestimated how much anger is out there.
"I was shocked, I would say, I was surprised that some people would call a stranger and say I'm going to hell. Like, thanks," he said
"I don't know what to do. Like, I don't want to be the person who hangs up on these people who are calling me because that doesn't help anything. But I don't know what else to do. I had some conversations with them and they didn't really help. So I don't know what to do there either," he said.
Though rates in Steinbach have been slowly climbing, as of Tuesday, just under 51 per cent of people in the health district had received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 73 per cent provincially.
In neighbouring Hanover, only 37.1 per cent of people have been vaccinated.
'People would call ... and say I'm going to hell,' says Kyle Penner after hearing from anti-vaccine crowd
A Steinbach pastor says he's been getting abusive phone calls, emails and Facebook messages since becoming part of a provincial campaign encouraging Manitobans to get vaccinated.
Kyle Penner, an associate pastor at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, is one of the faces of the Manitoba government's Take a Seat ad campaign, which features various community members talking about the importance of getting vaccinated so Manitobans can get back to the shared experiences they love.
Penner also wrote an article for the campaign's website about his decision to get vaccinated and his experience doing so.
After the ads went live on social media last week, people started commenting on his public Facebook posts, questioning his faith and accusing him of taking money to be part of the campaign, which he says isn't true.
Penner said he thought he'd seen the last of the nasty messages, until he showed up for work on Monday, where he was welcomed with dozens of angry voicemails and emails.
"Then my phone rang a bunch today [Tuesday] and they just really wanted to tell me I was wrong," he said.
While he was prepared for some criticism, Penner says he underestimated how much anger is out there.
"I was shocked, I would say, I was surprised that some people would call a stranger and say I'm going to hell. Like, thanks," he said
"I don't know what to do. Like, I don't want to be the person who hangs up on these people who are calling me because that doesn't help anything. But I don't know what else to do. I had some conversations with them and they didn't really help. So I don't know what to do there either," he said.
Though rates in Steinbach have been slowly climbing, as of Tuesday, just under 51 per cent of people in the health district had received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 73 per cent provincially.
In neighbouring Hanover, only 37.1 per cent of people have been vaccinated.