For the last 2 years, I have managed the food pantry at our church. (If you want a really amazing story of what started my venture into this ministry, read my story at the bottom of this blog...) Since today is the kick-off of our 2nd annual Clough Pike Baptist Church Food Pantry Souper Bowl, I am dedicating today's blog to pictures of our Christmas basket delivery in December. This was when we packed and delivered boxes of groceries to 36 needy families in our community.
In retrospect, I laugh at how many times I looked at men holding heavy boxes of groceries and said, "Stand right there for a minute while I take a picture of you!" (The boxes were too heavy for me to even lift!) I guess anyone who knows me, though, knows how much I love my pictures; so it shouldn't have surprised anyone that I was asking for that!
Did I mention that the boxes were too heavy for me to carrry? I have no idea how Serena Graham (below) was carrying that! There were 2 hams in the bottom of that box, along with lots of heavy cans of soup and fruits and vegetables and raviolli, cereal, stuffing, spaghetti sauce and noodles, peanut butter and jelly, instant mashed potatoes, gravy, canned chicken and tuna, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, bread, butter, and milk.
Most importantly, every box contained a Bible and a plan of salvation.
Most importantly, every box contained a Bible and a plan of salvation.
So here's my story...
In August of 2009, our family was coming home from lunch at a friend's house on a hot Sunday afternoon. At the corner of Clough Pike and Shayler Rd. (only about 1/4 mile from our house), we saw 4 children (ages ranging from about 5 - 10) sitting in a yard close to the road at a table that was full of little toys. The table had a sign posted to the front of it that read "Yard Sale." Because it was so very cute, we simply had to stop! We were pleased to discover that some of the toys they were selling were Rescue Heroes, which were action figures that our boys liked. So we bought some. The kids in that yard were SOOOO excited to see us break-out the 2 $5 bills to pay for the action figures, and they placed our money in a beach bucket that had been serving as their money holder all day. Ours were the first dollars they had received: they only had a smattering of change in their bucket up to that point. We left.
I looked in the rearview mirror as I drove away, and something hit me very hard as I saw those 4 children - whose faces were red and sweaty from the heat -wave tiredly to us as we pulled away. Something was wrong. I went home and put my own children down for a nap, and tried to relax myself. But I couldn't stop thinking about those children. A nagging question lingered in my mind (I would later believe this nagging to be from the Holy Spirit): What were those children going to buy with the money they were working so hard to earn on a scorching summer afternoon? I got in the car, drove back to the house on the corner just in time to see the 4 kids packing their remaining toys into a box.
I called to them, "Do you have anymore toys I can buy?" They excitedly began getting out their wares and attempting to sell them to me. I looked at them and leisurely asked, "So....what are you going to buy with the money you make today?" The little girl who was about 8 looked at me and said, "Food. Mommy lost her job, and our money in the bank is all gone and we don't have anything to eat ." And then she got the BIGGEST smile on her face, pulled out that $10 I had paid them earlier and said, "But it's OK now! 'Cause we can go to the grocery store tonight!"
I was shocked and speechless. I gave the children everything I had in my wallet and rushed home to tell Tim the story. Tim called our deacon chairman and arranged for some financial benevolence for that family, while I called the lady who had been running our church's food pantry. Unfortunately, she had given-up the food pantry ministry, and the church now had no more food.
God worked in my life at that moment and showed me that I - who knew absolutely nothing about handing out groceries to strangers - had a calling to run a food pantry. So 18 months later, God has taught me and trained me how to do this wonderful ministry, and it has grown! Because of those 4 children whom he placed in my path, our church served close to 500 people in 2010: praise the Lord!
Kara
