Donations of food appreciated by local churches
Churches in the area are helping people through the virus outbreak with food items as much as they can. However, donations are desperately needed and appreciated.
Pastor Starkey Lawrence of Shepherd’s Christian Assembly said his church feeds a very limited number of lunches certain days of the week. “We can only serve nine because of regulations,” he said. Even at that limited number, he isn’t sure what the next meal will be. “God will provide. We have a very, very caring community and God will move people to help.”
Lawrence said that sometimes, the church gets loaves of day-old bread or restaurants will donate their perishables. When this happens, he puts a table in front of the church on Main Street so people can get what they need. “We have people that drop off a case of water or oranges, things like that and I put them on the table out front.”
Pastor Mark Granger of New Life Ministries is also concerned about his food pantry. Because so many people panic-shopped, he has been unable to get his usual food from his suppliers. “I tried to get my usual 300 dozen eggs but was only able to get 120 dozen. Kraft Foods donated bacon, so I’ve been handing eggs and bacon out to people.”
Granger said he usually has beef for his monthly food pantry hand-out, but he didn’t have any for March and is just hoping for some in April. He said the church is out of peanut butter and cereal, two of the most asked for items. “I know a supplier in Cincinnati. I’m trying to get some stuff from them. Right now, I’m just thankful that schools are helping families with food for their kids.”
Granger said their monthly food pantry has a lot of senior citizens who really need the food and that some of them are raising grandchildren. “We are doing what little we can. The most important thing is for prayer and encouragement and we can do that every day.”
Both churches are putting sermons and words of encouragement on their websites so people can worship from home.
Donations of food would be greatly appreciated by either church and can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at New Life Ministries on Seventh Street or from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Shepherd’s Christian Assembly on Main Street.
Category: Faith
