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A Mysterious Letter Sparks Food Pantry Ministry
ALLEGAN, MI (June 28, 2005) - The recent dedication of a new food pantry at
Christ Community Covenant Church began about seven years ago with an
unsolicited letter to the church.
Pastor G. Patrick White said he wasn't sure whether the letter from a
New Jersey man offering to donate $500 to churches interested in
starting pantry ministries was legitimate. "So I called and said we were
interested," White says. Soon a check arrived and the pantry began at
Community Covenant, which was then three years old.
The pantry ministry began to expand rapidly in 2003, as the number of
unemployed people in the community began to grow.
"The demand became so great that it took over the kitchen, the
refrigerators and the fellowship hall," White says, adding, "We were
making so many runs to stock the shelves."
In response, the congregation built Vine, a free-standing
1,536-square-foot building to house the pantry. The new building was
dedicated on May 22.
The Churches Planting Ministries program of the Covenant supplied
$10,000 to the church to purchase food and cover operating costs. "I
don't think we could have gotten this thing started without it," White
says.
The church also has partnered with LOVE Inc., an organization by which
churches and others can network to provide goods and services to the
needy. The organization provides financial counseling, and participants
are given free groceries from the pantry for up to eight weeks as long
as they work the program. The pantry also is able to get meat that is
donated to LOVE Inc.
Most of the construction of the building was done with volunteer labor,
says White. A couple in the church donated commercial freezer and
refrigerators, and another member donated shelving.
The pantry is open Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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