December 17, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Although COVID-19 has forced changes in the way it has operated for most of the year, God’s Food Pantry continues its mission to feed the hungry through the holidays and year round.
For 13 years the pantry has provided food and other essentials to help meet the needs of the medically frail and elderly, children, veterans, the homeless, and the working poor.
Food is distributed on the first Friday after the first Thursday and on the third Friday of every month from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. from the pantry at 430 East Broad in Smithville in a drive through pickup line. Senior citizens are served first from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. and others can drive through after that up until 12 noon.
The next food distribution is Friday morning, December 18 and will be the last before Christmas.
Pat Zornow, God’s Food Pantry volunteer and coordinator, said thousands of people from within and outside of DeKalb County have been served by this ministry over the years, which is supported by churches, businesses, and caring individuals. And its not just people in the urban areas who are in need of help, but many in rural areas too.
“We want people to realize that that we are here and that the need for our services is just as great in the rural area if not more so than in the urban areas basically because there are more facilities available as far as pantries in the cities versus the rural areas,” said Zornow.
Anyone in need of food can drive up and get a box which includes basic staples, perishables, and sometimes meats including either beef, pork, and this time of year turkeys provided by Tenneco Automotive. Turkeys and hams typically go to the larger families.
“Every month we still have two food drives on the first and third Friday. The first Friday is basically staples with perishables and the third Friday is the staples, perishables, and meats. We are one of only a few pantries in the area that provide meat to everyone. Typically on pantry days when we don’t offer meat products we average about 250 cars pulling up but on days when we do have meats we usually get 300 plus cars drive through in addition to our regular 120 deliveries we do twice a month. With all these families we are feeding it comes to between 1,200 and 1,400 people per pantry with an average of 35% children and 31% senior citizens,” said Zornow.
Gods Food Pantry can also be reached to meet a dire emergency need anytime at 615-597-4540. Leave a message and someone will promptly return your call.