Just Being Neighborly Good News Church Fully living out loving thy neighbor
Monica Mangeac holds a bag of produce that will be given to a needy family at the Good News Pantry, located at 1203 7th St. S. in Nampa. (Photo by Gaye Bunderson)
16 July / August 2020 | Christian Living
By Gaye Bunderson Leaders and members of Nampa’s Good News Community Church wanted to establish a ministry in the poorest part of town. Their efforts to help the burg’s most needy citizens started off with the acquisition of a building on the verge of being condemned. Their sights were set on the former St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store and Food Pantry in Nampa’s northside, and six years ago, they purchased the property. “The building was in pretty bad shape,” Dan Mangeac, pastor of GNCC, concedes. “We were crazy enough back then not to realize what we were getting into.” They saw the area from a socio-economic viewpoint and realized that’s where their ministry goals were leading them. “The area has ‘big city problems’ and is the closest thing to an urban ministry in the valley,” Mangeac said, citing poverty and drug addiction as the two main problems. The departure of St. Vincent de Paul wasn’t the only exiting enterprise to leave a gaping hole in the well-being of Nampa’s northside citizenry. The closing of Paul’s Market more than a decade ago left many without a place to shop for food and supplies; a large percentage of residents do not own a vehicle and cannot drive to other parts of town. “It led to what the USDA calls ‘a food desert,” Mangeac said. So, the self-described ‘crazy’ congregation of 120 people at Good News Community Church dived right in. It took them $100,000 and one entire year to re-do the former St. Vincent de Paul building to the point they could re-locate their church there. But first, they had to put 20 percent down and have a reserve at the credit union, leaving them only $500 in the bank. It took them a year to complete the remodel and the move, but through the generosity of many donors, they pulled it off. This coming November, the church will mark its sixth year in its location at 1203 7th St. N. GNCC decided to partner with Care House, a ministry of Nampa’s First Church of the Nazarene located at 1524 S. 6th St., to help feed its new neighbors. Care House had a mobile food pantry ministry and the two churches teamed up to help feed northside Nampa residents. Then, three years later, Good News teamed with the Idaho Food Bank and started its own food ministry apart from Care House. The church had a small open lot off to the side of its refurbished building and decided to construct another building there and become a 501(c)(3) non-profit called the Good News Food Pantry. Continued on page 19
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