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Church's food pantry thrives after massive 2007 fire

By Kim Grizzard
The Daily Reflector

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

No one made speeches or read proclamations Tuesday to mark the anniversary of a fire that nearly destroyed The Memorial Baptist Church.

Crowds that gathered outside were largely unaware that two years earlier, the church came close to being consumed by flames. They had simply come for something to eat.

They found it at Memorial’s Benevolence Food Pantry, where volunteers distributed food to about 120 families who had come to the church for help. Despite Tuesday’s anniversary, it was business as usual for the pantry.

It was a fitting testimony to the ministry that hardly paused after the fire in 2007. Within a few weeks, the pantry had re-opened; volunteers handed out canned goods from portable storage units in the parking lot.

“No big meeting was held,” church member Ron Stephenson said of the decision to keep the pantry running. “It was probably assumed that (because) the food pantry was in the building, we just wouldn’t be able to continue. But with the willingness of the volunteers and the people of the church ... we only missed three Tuesdays.”

Established a decade ago, Memorial’s Benevolence Food Pantry is one 52 agencies working with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina in Pitt County. The ministry, one of 33 local pantries working with the food bank, averages more than 100 families at its twice monthly distributions. Volunteers served nearly 7,000 people last year.

Memorial, an 800-member congregation with average attendance of about 400, provides about $800 a month to fund the pantry.

“It’s a very practical ministry, a very hands-on ministry,” Memorial Pastor Randy McKinney said. “You think about the passage of scripture from Matthew where Jesus talks about, 'When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.’”

That New Testament scripture is posted on the side of grocery carts used to help clients get bread, fruits, vegetables and meats from the church fellowship hall to their cars. Sometimes there are treats such as candy and toys, seasonal items donated by Food Lion, one of the pantry’s largest corporate contributors.

The cartload is a godsend for Delois Daniels. She began coming to the pantry about a year ago after a disability left her unable to work.

“It (the food received) helps take stress off many, many people,” said Daniels, who has begun volunteering with the ministry by greeting fellow clients in the church parking lot. “Some of them look like they really, really need it.”

The pantry has seen a sharp increase in the number of requests in recent months. The number of families seeking help spiked at 314 in November, and monthly averages have nearly doubled since last year.

“When I first started coming here, I bet it wasn’t 35 people here,” said Jasper Burnett, another client and volunteer. “(Now) we’ve had 100 and some. I’ve seen so many faces, but I don’t know them.”

Memorial member Betty Hanks, who volunteers at the pantry with her husband, Wayne, said the ministry is seeing more elderly clients and newcomers.

“Now with the economy like it is we’re seeing larger numbers,” she said. “It’s needed more than ever.

“We’ve seen people who have never had to get help before that have come in the last two to three months, very proud people,” Hanks said. “They’ve said, 'I never thought this would happen to me, but I never thought I’d lose my job.’”

To receive food through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which is federally funded, clients must show they qualify for low-income assistance. But the Benevolence Food Pantry keeps a supply of food on hand for families that might not meet the requirements for other programs.

“If they come in and say they have a need, then we will give them food,” Stephenson said. “We do not turn people away.”

The pantry distributes other items as well, passing along donations of toothpaste, toilet tissue and diapers as they become available.

“One lady said, 'I was just praying today about how I was going to get some diapers for my baby.’ That was the day we happened to have diapers,” Hanks said. “It’s been a blessing for people that are really hurting.”

The ministry provides copies of the New Testament — in English and Spanish — for anyone who wants to take one, and one of Memorial’s ministers is available to pray for any clients who ask. Some clients have returned to take part in worship services at Memorial, though building its membership was not the reason Memorial started — or continued — the ministry.

“It’s a part of that larger story of how people can truly come together to accomplish something even though it might not be the easiest thing to do,” McKinney said. “When you look back, that says something about a congregation — that they were still able to think of others.”

Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@coxnc.com or (252) 329-9578.