By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The food pantry at Grayson Freewill Baptist Church is fairly new, beginning in March of this year. But the spirit behind the outreach isn’t new at all, according to organizer Pam Wilburn. Wilburn said that she raised her children in the church that is located on US 60 near the Extension Office, and that the church has always been conscious of the needs of the community. So, when Wilburn began to be concerned about her eighty-four-year-old mother having difficulties with food insecurity due to being on a fixed income, and the price of food taking drastic jumps over the past few years, she and her church decided to do something to remedy the problem.
“We started the Community Outreach in March,” Willburn said. “I saw my mother struggling because times are hard for everyone, but for elderly people especially.”
Wilburn thought there had to be some way she could help people like her mother, so she went on the internet and began searching for food pantries.
“I found a food bank that our area is supplied by,” Wilburn said. “I found God’s Food Pantry in Morehead, and I sent them an application.”
Like most food pantries, God’s Food Pantry had criteria to follow. Typically, food pantries don’t dispense food directly to the public. Rather, they rely on a network of nonprofit entities such as churches to collect the food from them, then see that the food makes it to the local individuals and families that are in need. Wilburn filled everything out and qualified to receive the food, and together with her father-in-law Wayne Wilburn (who, fortunately, is a retired truck driver) she goes once a week to pick up food.
“They have things like apples and potatoes,” Wilburn said. “They always have a lot of fresh produce, so we pick that up every week. Then we order canned food and other staples through the ordering system at God’s Food Bank.”
The produce is always free, she pointed out, but the ordered food has to be paid for. Some other things include Smithfield Hams that are donated to the food bank, and for the past two months Wilburn said they’ve received turkey breasts.
“They have different things that are free each week,” she said.
Wilburn said the church didn’t stop at one supplier, but also began working with Christian Appalachian Project out of Paintsville, Kentucky.
“They are a nonprofit as well,” Wilburn said. “But they are a warehouse in Paintsville that gets overstock items from places like Walmart, Walgreens, or CVS. And you might get anything there. We went today (September30) and got pallets of Pine-Sol cleaner. It really could be anything.”
“I just asked them one day, ‘Why don’t you bring me a semi-truck of that stuff?’,” Wilburn said. She told the warehouse that it would save her a lot of money – a huge benefit to her limited cash budget – if they could possibly deliver it. To her surprise, they answered, ‘Sure. We can do that.’
“So now they bring us a semi-truckload of product once per month,” Wilburn said.
Wilburn said the company brought her an estimated $10 thousand worth of overstocked toys. They were on six pallets, ten feet tall, of new Hasbro toys, she said. Those toys were divided with Project Merry Christmas and other groups, and the church’s part was of course given out to the community.
“Sometimes they will bring shoes, and we will have a shoe giveaway,” she said. “One semi was filled with paper products such as plates and cups, and we gave those away to other churches and school resource centers. It’s so random what you might get. So, we just divide with the community. We try to be good stewards and share with other organizations such as local schools, because every group has needs.”
Wilburn said that the Grayson Freewill Baptist Church and all its volunteers have a once-a-month giveaway, with the October 2024 giveaway set to take place on Saturday, October 5 from 9 until 11 a.m. Everything will be lined up on tables or on pallets, she said, and those going through the line will receive approximately $250 worth of groceries.
When the program started in March, 123 families participated, and by September that number had grown to 370, Wilburn said. Currently there is no restriction as to who can come to the giveaway, she said.
“If you come and tell me you’re hungry, I’m giving you food,” she said. “We’ll serve as long as we have it.”
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
