Christian Love Pantry

Taking Care Of Neighbors In Time Of Need

Story by Scottie Vickery

Submitted photos

Sue Turton will never forget the young girl who came to the Christian Love Pantry with her father years ago. She couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7, but she’d already experienced the hard realities of life. Her father had lost his job, the family was hungry, and they turned to the ministry based in Pell City for help.

The little girl’s eyes got wide as she looked at the groceries the volunteers had prepared for the family, Turton remembered. “Oh Daddy, look, there’s peanut butter,” the child said. “We’re not poor anymore.”

For more than four decades, the Christian Love Pantry, has been providing much more than just food to St. Clair County families in crisis. Based on the belief of neighbors helping neighbors, they’ve offered hope, love, kindness and compassion by the grocery cartful.

“The Lord always provides enough,” said Bob Osborn, a volunteer who serves as director of the nonprofit. “This community is wonderful that way. If we need something, they step up.”

That was certainly obvious in December when the Christian Love Pantry gave away 22,500 pounds of food during its annual Christmas in the Park event held at Lakeside Park. Area churches and civic organizations provided volunteers, and the St. Clair County Airport Authority and members of the Pell City Seventh Day Adventist Church distributed toys and treats collected during a toy drive sponsored by the Airport Authority.

“You’re helping people, and that’s what people need,” one recipient said. “There’s a lot of people who are hungry.”

IN THE BEGINNING …

The Christian Love Pantry began in 1980 when three Pell City churches – St. Simon Peter Episcopal Church, First United Methodist Church and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church – joined forces to meet the ongoing need for emergency food distribution.

After receiving a donation of $10,000 in 1982, the Pell City Ministerial Council officially established the ministry, which was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1991 and began receiving United Way of Central Alabama funding. Since then, many more churches have come on board, helping in a variety of ways.

“The original articles of incorporation said the purpose was to help the needy in the community and to also give members of different denominations to work together for the common good and understanding of each other,” said

Turton, who serves as secretary. So far, they’ve remained true to both goals. Seven churches – the original three, plus Cropwell Baptist, Harvest Center, Pell City Seventh Day Adventists and First Baptist – still have members on the Christian Love Pantry’s board of directors. Another nine or 10 congregations provide volunteers, financial support, or food donations. “We are all different denominations, but we are all Christians and believe in Jesus,” Osborn said. “The unity we get from hanging out with one another and volunteering together is special.”

Providing Daily Bread

The organization, which serves thousands of people each year and is completely staffed by volunteers, is not a substitute for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often referred to as food stamps. Instead, it is designed to help families during emergency situations. For some, that’s the loss of a job or a health diagnosis resulting in high medical bills. For others, it’s a broken car transmission, a heating unit in need of repairs, or grandparents who have taken in a grandchild and haven’t started receiving benefits.

“We give them enough food to get through

Rewarding experience seen in smiles of volunteers