To think — it all started with a simple drive around town and a great need being brought to the attention of one small Upstate church.

As of last Saturday, The Potters House of Jonesville had filled probably 1,200 boxes with food and nonperishable items for around 1,000 families in Union County who needed assistance.

Pastor Don Moore reported Tuesday, while the weather could have hindered attendance, the December Truck Load of Food event at the church was a success even though a smaller number of people were served on Dec. 19.

“It went well,” Moore said. “We were right at 300 that came.”

But that meant everyone who arrived in the cold and rain Saturday was able to get what the church normally would give to those registered but more.

Moore said boxes were filled with items like deer meat, hamburger, soup, various canned goods, toilet paper and paper towels.

“We had a lot of things,” he said. “We had more in them this time than we’ve ever been able to do before.”

That abundance of items came from a few different sources.

Originally, when the church decided to have another Truck Load of Food drive this month, the organization it gets food from — Second Harvest — said it wouldn’t be able to provide much if anything for the third installment of the event.

That changed Saturday morning when Moore was on his way to pick up what the organization had reserved for the church. He received a phone call saying another church doing a similar project in another area canceled its request.

“They basically told us if we could get there to get it, it was ours,” Moore said.

So after paying the driver of the other church’s truck — using funds previously donated to the church for the purpose of securing food and other items to give to those families registered — The Potter’s House went from not having enough to serve everyone it expected to have Saturday to having more than enough for the number of people who came.

“That was a blessing,” Moore said.

The church also received other donations from people in Union County on Saturday. That included donations from Jonesville Baptist Church and an individual from Union who brought 27 turkeys to be given to food bank registrants. Moore said several donations were brought to the church prior to the event’s start at noon.

The Potters House now has enough food for a good start on the next installment of the outreach project which could be as early as next month.

“We’re already looking at doing another one not too far down the road,” Moore said. “We’re looking at mid-January. And we’ll be able to take care of any emergency situations in the meantime.”

The total number of families registered for the food drive events is right around the 700 mark, Moore said, but that number is probably a little higher.

“We’ve served probably over 1,000 families since we’ve started,” he added.

But that’s what it’s all about — serving those in need and helping them realize that God’s blessings extend to them as well as anyone else. Moore and the volunteers for the project want them to also know they are there to help and aren’t going anywhere soon.

In fact, the pastor is excited about what next year and beyond holds.

“I’m really looking forward to next year and being able to serve the people,” Moore said.

With more and more people and organizations — including additional churches — becoming involved, he and his congregation aren’t limiting what they can accomplish through the food bank project that started when a mother asked the driver of the church van if The Potters House could feed her children.

“There’s still much work to be done,” Moore said.

To him, the only place to go from here — with all the goals he and volunteers have set for the outreach mission accomplished above and beyond what they expected — is up.

Discussions currently are going on surrounding what the next step is. Moore and his congregation are contemplating if the church should purchase a large, insulated container to store the food in or perhaps invest in a building for a permanent food bank center.

Eventually, the possibility exists the food bank could serve people on a weekly basis.

“It would tickle me to be able to serve 300 or 400 people a week,” Moore said.

But no decisions have been made and the pastor said the main concern right now is simply serving those who need the assistance — nothing more, nothing less. It’s all about serving the people.

“We’ll keep on signing families up and getting food out,” he said.