Charles Warner|Daily Times Sadie Wade fills bags with sweet potatoes for distribution at The Potters Storehouse on Saturday. She was among a number of church members and other volunteers who assisted in the church's effort to provide food and other necessities to the needy of Union County.

slideshow

Charles Warner|Daily Times D.J. Hill pushes a cart full of meat along the conveyor at The Potters Storehouse in preparation for the church's food distribution event. Hill was filling boxes with the various meats the church had secured for distribution to needy families and individuals.

slideshow

Charles Warner|Daily Times This table full of bagels and bread is only a small part of the variety of foods distributed by The Potters Storehouse in Jonesville on Saturday.

slideshow

Charles Warner|Daily Times The sanctuary of The Potters Storehouse was full of people Saturday waiting for the church to begin distributing the food it collects for the needy of Union County.

slideshow

JONESVILLE — The beginning of the fourth year of The Potters Storehouse’s food ministry finds the church being called upon to meet the needs of more and more families while calling on the public for help in providing it with the resources to continue meeting the needs of those families.

The church, which is located on S.C. 18 in the Jonesville area, has two food distribution events scheduled for October. The first of these was held this past Saturday, and Pastor Don Moore said that turnout was greater than expected.

“For the week we had 750 to 775 families or more than 2,000 people received food and other necessities,” Moore said Monday. “We started around 11 a.m. and we’re usually done by a little after 1 p.m. except for some cleaning up, but Saturday we had so many people show up we weren’t done until 4 p.m. We usually have all the food boxes we need made by the time we start, but on Saturday we had to make more food boxes two or three times, there were so many people.”

The 2,000 people the church distributed food to Saturday are not all the people needing the church’s help.

“I’ve been getting calls all day from people who couldn’t make it Saturday for one reason or another,” Moore said. “I’ve had to tell them that while we’ve got a lot of stuff, there are a lot of things we don’t have and we’re going to have to replenish our stock.”

The church’s next distribution is scheduled for Oct. 28 and Moore said he expects an equal if not greater turnout.

“This will be another month where we’ll distribute to more than 4,000 people,” Moore said. “We may even push 5,000.”

The church’s ability to do so, however, could well depend on Moore’s ability to secure the funds needed to pay the food ministry’s power bill which averages $850 a month.

“We’ve received our turn off notice,” Moore said. “We’ve probably got until Friday to raise the money to pay the power bill so I’ll be out beating the bushes this week.”

While it has always managed to pay its bills in the past through a combination of a great deal of effort and the generosity of a cross-section of the community, Moore said constantly appealing for money is not his favorite of the ministry, but it has enabled the ministry to continue carrying out its mission.

“Raising more money is my least favorite part, but I always remember that it leads to the end result which is my favorite,” Moore said. “The end result of this process is that we get people who need our help fed and keeping getting them fed.”

Anyone who is interested in donating, volunteering or receiving more information about The Potter’s Storehouse can call Pastor Don Moore at (864) 680-3465.

Editor Charles Warner can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 14, or by email at cwarner@heartlandpublications.com.