JONESVILLE — Santa Claus made three visits and more than 850 families were served during the first of two December food distribution events at The Potters Storehouse.
Pastor Don Moore said that the huge turnout for Saturday’s food distribution event kept church members and volunteers busy well into the afternoon.
“It was wild all day, we didn’t get through until 4:30,” Moore said. “We made food boxes all day. We served more than 850 families, about as many as we served at Thanksgiving.”
While it has always been able to provide for the families seeking its help, Moore said the church was able to provide those at Saturday’s distribution with even more food than normal.
“We had such a large amount of food we had no place to store it all so we were able to give some people some items by the case, we just didn’t have room to keep them,” Moore said. “We had assorted canned goods as well as mayonnaise, salad dressing, pickles, bananas, and onions. People were able to get 10 pound bags of sweet potatoes or white potatoes. We had crackers and chips and boxes of candy and two liter bottles of soft drinks. Everybody was able to get four or five loaves of bread. We had a variety of meat and everybody was able to get meat. There was so much food and such a variety of food that it almost seemed like a regular grocery store.”
In addition to food, Moore said the church had tables full of clothes, toys and Christmas decorations and wrapping paper for distribution.
Many of the church members and volunteers involved in the distribution were wearing Santa Claus hats as they went about packing boxes and helping people take them to their cars. This was appropriate as the Jolly Old Elf himself was a guest of the church, taking his place in the sanctuary to have children sit on his lap, tell him their Christmas wishes and then get two gifts from under a nearby Christmas tree.
“It went very well, the children were all excited,” Moore said. “Santa came by three different times to make sure every child got a gift.”
Even children who weren’t at Saturday’s event were able to get a present from underneath the church’s Christmas tree.
“We had parents whose children were not able to come get presents for their children,” Moore said. “We let them get a present if they showed us their voucher and it had children on there.”
The church’s next distribution will be Dec. 22 and Moore said that anyone wanting to help make it as big a success as this past Saturday’s is encouraged to do so.
“We’ll take donations of food for the families we serve as well as toys for their children,” Moore said. “Anyone who wants to donate can do so and we’ll be taking donations through Friday, December 21.”
Anyone who would like to donate to The Potter’s Storehouse is asked to call Moore at (864) 680-3465.
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