Late in October a letter was sent to almost 100 community groups, organizations, businesses, and churches asking for help in supplying food for the Thanksgiving and Christmas bags that the First United Methodist Church food closet distributes to our clients in need.
The response was overwhelming! Some of these very giving folks you may know. Some may be your neighbors, some may be of your congregation, some you may never heard of before, and some you didn’t even know existed, but they all deserve a rousing cheer of thanks for their generous gifts of support!
The list includes: Robert & Janice Fowler, Trinity Episcopal Church, Wesley & Doris Crocker, M.J. & Rick Dawson, John & Elaine Clarkson, Meijer’s, Belleville First United Methodist Women, Canton OBGYN Clinic, Michelle Sypula / P&P Dance Centre, Coca-Cola, Mary Hoff, Bruce & Julie Hacalaa, Kathryn Tuer, Peggy Curtis, Keystone Academy, Belleville Area Women’s Group, Grace Baptist Church, Higgerson & Neal Funeral Home, Belleville/Van Buren Goodfellows, Dave & Lois Egbert, FUMC Come Doubles, Van Buren Township Senior Center, Belleville Yacht Club, Bethany Bible Church, Belleville Auxiliary Fire Department, Curves International, EQ-The Environmental Quality Company, Friends of MI Animal Rescue, Unified Communities Federal Credit Union, Van Buren FOE #3996, Van Buren Public Schools Administration, Wayne County Commissioner Kevin McNamara, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Open Army Lutheran Church, Davenport Brothers Construction, Belleville Presbyterian Church, Garden Fantasy Greenhouse & Nursery, Bayou Grill, Wayne County Quilting Group, Loranger Family Chiropractic Center, Kae & Jay Hartford, Michael & Cindy Dukeks Clarey, Donna Sienko, George Smith of 4 Friends Bar & Grill, Robert & Carlene Stoner, Toni Hunt, Marshall Weid, Jan & John MacDermid, and many, many more anonymous folks.
The food closet, in cooperation with the Plymouth Salvation Army and the Belleville/Van Buren Goodfellows, was able to assist more than 1,000 families in Van Buren and Sumpter Townships and the City of Belleville with Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday food. These numbers seem to indicate that there is a real need for assistance in our community.
When the First United Methodist Church began to serve the area communities with a food closet in 1985 little did anyone think we would still be functioning today. We began life as an emergency source of food for individuals and families who could show a documented and verifiable emergency need. We are not a permanent source of food. We are a 501c(3) non-profit organization staffed entirely by volunteers and we have been working closely with the Salvation Army, Community Care Services (CCS), the school system, and other area churches. When a client comes in for food they are given an emergency bag of food and a list of these area agencies from which they can obtain a referral enabling them to return for additional food when necessary.
Our funding comes entirely from our donations and gifts from the community and our congregation. We have fund-raisers, such as our bake sale at the Harvest Fest and the church parking lot at Strawberry Festival time. We depend heavily on the United Postal Workers food drive held nationally every May and the Boy Scouts door-to-door food drive in the fall as sources of food. We have no state or federal government funding.
Over the past few years we have begun to see more and more of our clients coming weekly for food and personal hygiene and paper products. It has been a gradual process both on the part of the client and the staff of the food closet to slip into a casual “once a week” occurrence. When we reviewed our numbers for the past few years we found that we cannot be the sole source of food for the ever-growing number of clients.
After extensive evaluation of our program, it has been decided that we at the food closet would continue to serve those in need. Rather than on a weekly basis, clients would be requested to come for food on an emergency “as-needed” basis and no more than every OTHER week. We will continue as an emergency source of food for those in real need, but ask that our clients budget their requirements as we must budget our resources. We will continue to be good stewards of the donations and gifts entrusted to us.
If you have questions, concerns or ideas, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] .
Sandy Askew, Coordinator
First United Methodist Church Food Closet