Would your church help a starving baby? One woman puts it to the test

Can we help with what? Baby formula. What you mean a baby formula? Yeah I have a

You want somebody give you some money or something? No I just need the formula. I have a two-month

old and she ran out last night so she's went all night and all day without formula. Yeah we don't

have any formula here for not baby. If you're religious would your church help a starving baby

It's a question one woman, Nicali Monroe, has been testing by calling churches across the country pretending to be a mom who ran out of baby formula for a starving two-month-old

A series of phone calls has shocked many people and sparked national debate, mainly because many people in Monroe's comments and on other social media forums expect churches to help anyone in need

But Monroe said it's revealing a much bigger gap, not just in religious communities, but everyone as a whole

And then at first I didn't have like the baby crying in the background. Somebody along the way had commented it in the comments and then I started adding the baby

For your baby? Yes, yeah, she's two months old. Out of all of her calls, Monroe received nine yeses

Even without a food pantry, some churches still offer to find a way to get formula to her

I'm like 10 minutes away. Okay, and what formula does your baby use

But she also received 33 no's. Some churches offered other numbers or resources

Others didn't offer anything at all. We have a benevolence program, but it is for our members

It's just for the members because like I have a two-month owner. and she hasn't ate like since last night

So she's gone all night and all day without any formula. Like I don need money or anything I just need like a small little can and I been calling everywhere and they just telling me call churches and I just don know what else to do Some calls even turned political We included in that not because we want to be but

we've been struggling with a whole bunch of things since the Joe Bamo Biden regime took over

In my, like this is a fake baby, but in my mind, if somebody would have called with a real baby

that baby would be starving. Monroe even called the church Charlie Kirk once attended

they told her no. Online, people pointed out hypocrisy in churches. Just days earlier

that same church posted, quote, it's the job of the church, not the government

to take care of poor people. Their Instagram bio also reads, outreach for the hungry

homeless, and helpless. When asked what moment stood out to her the most

being hung up on twice, I was like, I couldn't believe it

While reviews of the experiment are mixed, there are a few points that need clarifying

Some people called Monroe an influencer, but she only started posting these videos in early November and just posted them for fun

In a little over one week, her follower count jumped from about 300 to more than 400,000

Her reason for starting this experiment came from her real job. I am a drug addiction counselor, so I actually have a lot of patients that are homeless currently

and I refer a lot of them to go to churches and, you know, a lot of these resource places that are

referred to us to give to them and a lot of them come back with nothing. Like, they don't get the

help that they need. Some also accused her of trying to steal money, but she said that was never the case

I was just calling up churches locally here first to see which churches would, like

I offered you help provide just a small can of formula. I wasn't asking for money

I was like if you get it I can come pick it up Like I was making it so easy Because of how viral the video series has become some of the churches she called are starting to respond including Living Faith Christian Center

We don't have any formula around, darling. I'm sorry. None, no diapers, anything for babies

We don't have any. Could that be something you all could get and I could just pick it up

No, we can't right now. I'm sorry. On Sunday, Bishop Raymond Johnson referred to Monroe as, quote, low and evil

How you gonna do your little dirty deed? And, you know, it's just the spirit of a witch

It's a witch. And my Bible says he do not allow that thing to live

The sermon has since been removed from the church's YouTube channel. We reached out to Living Faith Christian Center and did not receive a response

We also contacted multiple other churches. Some lines were disconnected or not in service

Other critics of the experiment say not all churches have the means for food pantries or benevolence funds since they do rely on donations

And that's true. Most churches are 501c3 organizations, and based on the information we could find, less than half the churches Monroe called are affiliated with a food pantry

Still, some churches with pantries didn't offer any other help. Another big talking point is the Church of Latter-day Saints

Monroe called two LDS churches, and many online commenters said those churches typically only help members

We tried calling both locations Monroe called but both lines were no longer in service

Monroe said people were calling churches and leaving hate messages, something she never wanted

I know I can control people responses but I don feel like spreading more hate is the answer Another church responded publicly Someone who saw Monroe video went to their service and recorded this

We've come to expect this kind of thing from radical, woke, unbelieving trolls who wish to disparage the gospel and God's church

The irony of a pro-abortionist making that call is funny. And another pastor, not from a church Monroe called, also spoke out and is getting backlash

He posted this on a now private TikTok. Churches, they are not obligated

We hope that they're going to be able to be philanthropic and donate into their community

That same pastor also talked about scams church's face, something Monroe says she understands but disagrees with

There's a lot of fear. Somebody's going to scam me. Somebody's going to scam me. Look, even when we're dating and I was just talking to another church that had said yes

but even when we're in relationships and we have bad experience, we don't go into the next one with that baggage

I feel like that should apply with people that are in need. Monroe said she understands the controversy and hopes this experiment leads to something positive

Like the few churches who originally said no, but responded saying the experiment was humbling for them

Monroe said she has another social experiment planned, one not involving churches, but she wants one message to be clear

Out of all of it, there's a gap that needs to be fixed. Like, there really is

And it's not even just on the church, it's on everybody, like even the community

because I feel like we don't even do our job to make sure that these pantries have baby formula or the needs that other people need

For more on this story and others, head over to san.com or download our mobile app

I'm Kennedy Felton with Straight Arrow News