DOING CHURCH IN THE AGE OF CORONAVIRUS

Written by Dale Buchanan

The BIG RED FOOD PANTRY is back in business. Someone has suggested that the only constant is change and this bit of wisdom has assumed the status of a truism.

As the name suggests the primary mission of the, “Big Red Food Pantry,” has been and is, to deliver free food into the hands of the disadvantaged of our community. The CORONAVIRUS struck our community, state and our nation like a biblical plague,leaving us in disarray but like a truism it is forcing us to see change as the great constant. After months of quiet we met on June 18,2020 and a great spirit of change was moving amongst us. We assembled virtually via Zoom. COVID 19 had forced us to do some things differently. We tentatively agreed to change FREE FOOD FRIDAY, to FREE FOOD SATURDAY. Before the week was over it was obvious that Saturday would bring more volunteers. This ministry is labor intensive and this forced change will relieve the pressure on our senior volunteers. 

We met again on July 23 and other structural changes  happened to make the pantry work even more evenly distributed. The need to “Social Distance,” led us to instigate a ,” Drive-thru food distribution. This led to a partnership with Central California Food Bank  where they supply free boxes of assorted shelf-stable foods. The partnership with Food Bank sent our leadership to, “TEENS THAT CARE,” these teenagers have volunteered to load the food boxes into the automobiles.

The first Free Food Saturday will be a Drive thru Food  Distribution  And will happen  Saturday August 22, 2020, 9 am -12 noon.

This is not a call for money. It is an appeal for volunteers young and old. Just a bit of your time can open doors of service. For more information and to sign up call Mike Gostanian 930-6165 or Randy Oftedal 348-3365 .

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