SEARCY: Feeding the community

With economy, Searcy church sees more interest in services

By Amy Widner

LITTLE ROCK — Last week was a busy one for volunteers with Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Searcy.

On Aug. 23, volunteers distributed 101 Angel Food Ministries food boxes. On Aug. 26, they served 72 people free meals at their monthly Dinner with Our Shepherd event. That same evening, 22 people dropped by to get food from their pantry.

Judy Morris is the church’s coordinator for the Angel Food program. The church has provided free monthly meals and kept its pantry stocked for several years now, but became an Angel Food Ministries host site only five months ago.

“Our church has been trying to refocus itself to an outwardcommunity focus,” Morris said. “We saw this program and learned more about it and knew it was something we could do on a small scale at first, and it could grow. We’re ready for whatever God hands us.”

They filled 32 food orders the first month, and now that average is closer to 100. About 20 to 25 volunteers from the church help distribute the boxes at the monthly pick-up time.

Angel Food Ministries, which began and is still based in Georgia, allows host members to offer groceries at reduced prices by partnering with food corporations. It gives $1 back to the host for each basic box of food sold. Our Shepherd puts that money toward their monthly free dinners,supplemented with donations from the congregation.

“We take that $1 donation and give it right back to the community,” Morris said. “We take it and feed people with it.”

Angel Food participants order from a monthly menu of options and can use food stamps to pay for their purchase. The basic box is $30 (designed to feed a family of four for a week or a single person for a month), with $20 add-ons available for extra meat, vegetables or special items. They also offer $25 boxes of balanced, heat-up meals designed with senior citizens in mind. However, participants do not have to be seniors or prove they have an economic need to participate.

Morris said that’s one of the things she likes about the program - that it’s open to everyone. Because these days, she said, buying groceries is becoming a challenge for an everwidening group of people.

“We may have only been doing Angel Food for five months, but we’re converts,”Morris said.

“I would say you would probably at the current prices go to the grocery store and pay $60 to $80 for what we can provide for $30,” she added. “We hear it every month from the people who come to pick up their food - about what a blessing it is because of how high gas prices are and how bad the economy is. They say, ‘You just don’t know how much this is helping.’”

The changing economy has meant that the demographics of the people they serve has been changing as well. Morris said in the past, their monthly dinners were mostly attended by seniors. Last month, it was more like a 50-50 split between seniors and young families. The Angel Food boxes attract more young people - about two thirds of the people who participate are young families, Morris said - but with the recent addition of the senior frozen-meal option, that service could diversify as well.

Meeting a variety of people really is the point, Morris said. Angel Food Ministries is a Christian organization, but Morris said the point of all the services Our Shepherd provides is toestablish friendships and give back to the community - even if that doesn’t result in more people in the pews.

The church averages from 60 to 70 people on Sunday mornings, but Morris said they’re excited about their programs growing and hope to some day become an Angel Food hub, which would mean they would get the food delivered on site. For now they drive to Cabot to pick up their orders.

“We’re small, but we’ve got a big heart,” Morris said.

According to the Angel Food Web site, the program reaches almost 2.5 million people each month. It has more than 4,500 host sites in 35 states.

More information is available by calling Our Shepherd Lutheran Church at (501) 268-1613. The church is at 2610 S. Main St. in Searcy. Monthly Angel Food menus are available online, at the church or at Lightle Senior Center at 2200 E. Moore St. in Searcy. Angel Food orders may be mailed to the church or dropped off at the Lightle Center. Orders for the next delivery are due at noon Friday, Sept. 12. Food deliveries will be made at the church from 10-11:30 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 27, and should be picked up there.

The Our Shepherd pantry is open twice a month: 10 a.m.

to noon the second Thursday of the month and 5:30-6:30 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of themonth, which is also the day and time for the free dinner.

There are three Angel Food Ministries host sites in Searcy and many more in the Three Rivers area, which are listed on the ministry’s Web site, www.

angelfoodministries.com. The other Searcy hosts are Faith Assembly of God at (501) 268-6223 and Searcy Church of the Nazarene at (501) 268-6436.

- awidner@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 50, 51 on 09/04/2008