JONESVILLE — As more families sign up for food assistance The Potters Storehouse is asking for the public’s help in meeting the needs of those families.
Earlier this year, the church began distributing food on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month instead of the second and fourth Saturdays. The change was made to allow the volunteers who prepare the boxes of food and do other services spend Saturdays with their families and to make the distributions more convenient for them, the church, its staff, and its food suppliers such as Charlotte, N.C.-based Second Harvest.
Pastor Don Moore said the change has resulted in an increase in the number of families and individuals receiving food assistance from the church.
“Since we went to Wednesdays it seems like we’re gaining a lot of new families,” Moore said. “In March we distributed to a total of just over 5,000 people or 1,853 families. We’re still signing up anywhere from 25 to 40 new families at each distribution. It is good to reach new people and new families that we haven’t reached before.”
Moore said a number of the people who recently signed up have said they didn’t know about the church’s food distribution program even though it has been distributing food for the past four years.
In addition to the church’s distribution program, The Potters Storehouse provides food for distributions by other churches and organizations. Moore said those programs have grown too.
“First Presbyterian is adding more families and Trinity Baptist is serving more and more people,” Moore said. “We’re also getting ready to help Carlisle with another food distribution.”
Providing food to all those who need it, whether directly or indirectly, takes money and Moore said he is again having to ask for the public’s help.
“As usual we do need to raise money,” Moore said. “Donations were lower in the first three months of the year and we really need help.”
Moore said he’s had to use his own credit cards to purchase food and arrange transportation to pick it up from Second Harvest in Charlotte. Even with that, Moore said it has not been enough and the church has been unable to get some of the food Second Harvest has made available for it.
“We’ve been missing out on a lot of food we could have had from Second Harvest,” Moore said. “They make it available but we have to go get it and pick it up with a larger truck than we use around here. We have to rent a truck to go get the food and while we were recently able to get 17,000 pounds of chicken and ham we still have to rent the truck to go get it. I’m hoping to pick up another load Tuesday if I can arrange a truck.”
In addition to monetary donations, Moore said the program needs volunteers to assist in the deliveries to people who, because of illness or disability or lack of transportation, cannot come to the church to pick up their food.
“We need volunteers for deliveries because we’ve had more people calling for deliveries,” Moore said. “We only deliver to those who do not have a car or who can’t come to the church because they are disabled or elderly. We need volunteers to make deliveries to these people.”
Moore said anyone wanting to make a donation and/or volunteer to make deliveries should call him at 864-680-3465.
Editor Charles Warner can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 14, or by email at cwarner@civitasmedia.com.
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