food relief

drove 3 hours down to Lower Salem OH...a small town in the lower Ohio hills near WV...a couple of years ago there was a flood that inundated the town...FNMA failed to help sufficiently...homes that couldn't be recovered were abandoned...high unemployment and mistrust of the government leaves the people looking for help from the church...over 90 families will now receive winter assistance from a Methodist Church. We took over 250 bags of groceries to the town and unloaded the bags in a Peoples Bank...the bank allows the food pantry to operate in the unused side of the building...sheet rock is still stripped about 3 feet from the floor due to flood damage...

People gratefully wept when we unloaded the last bag...their comments, "this will get us through the winter'... I asked on lady, 'how has the food pantry helped you?' she replied, 'I receive $54 dollars government help per week...the food bank helps me save some money for other things than food. I don't know what I'd do without their help.' Doug also gave the food bank a check for $1000...it was worth the 7 hours on the road...again generous Dayton Vineyard people provided the groceries by bringing a November Thanks to God bag to the Vineyard...we stored the bags until yesterday...

small thing, huge impact

here is a note from Lue the pastor

Hi Steve,
Thank you for your wonderful presence here at Lower Salem....We were ecstatic
and blessed beyond all belief....to see the crew rolling into our lil town
and bringing gifts of food and money....it was beyond our expectations...

This will go along way to feed more of the hungry here in this area...the
hill culture is a different way of looking at things....the people are out
of work and trying to make ends meet but do not want to rely on the
government..most have a distrust for the government but they will rely on
the churches whether they go to church or not....!!! So we meet them where
they are at and we help them without strings attached wherever possible...

The crew you met will work hard to make this a go of it....and your help just expands our capabilities to serve...We get food from a Regional distribution center but they do not always have all we need so we go out to the local markets and beg borrow and beg some more...It cost us approx 8-10 dollars a month per family to feed 90 families...just two years ago it was 25...sooooo you see the problem...your gifts will certainly take care of close to 2 months of monetary needs and more grocery needs so God Bless you!!!!

We will travel wherever to get things so if you work out a deal with GFS or someone else we will come and pick up....We usually have shortages in canned fruit...meat....cereal....so keep you ear to the ground for us and we could piggy back off someone else we will....

You have your own ministries to eat up your time...so only when you hear of something keep us in mind....
Lou