Every month for the past eight years, a Harvesters truck has parked outside of Golden Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, north of the Compass Health campus in Clinton. By the truck’s arrival at 8 a.m., there is already a long line of cars on the road beside the church, the drivers waiting to receive a box of food from the community food network, which serves 27 counties in Missouri and Kansas out of its Kansas City and Topeka hubs.
And the number of people in the Clinton area needing help providing themselves and their families with food is increasing.
“There are more and more,” said Janet Warren, deacon of Golden Valley Seventh-day Adventist.
That’s what the Community of Christ Church, which started their food ministry in 2019, has also discovered. The church is on its second set of pantries, which are located outside the church to be accessible 24/7 every day of the year.
Recently, they had 63 visitors in 13 hours.
“We fill the food pantry a minimum of twice a day,” said Beverly Hayden, church member and pantry volunteer.
Located in two church classrooms, the Adventist Free Store was slated to open on Wednesday. Feb. 5. It will be open Wednesday afternoons from noon to 5 p.m. Last Thursday, Janet Warren was composing the church newsletter including an update of the outreach project.
“We’ve got a lot of donations still coming,” Janet said of the Free Store. “The problem is not going to be having enough stuff,
it’s ‘where do you store it?’”
The congregation has stocked the Free Store with food and clothing. Still needed, Janet wrote in the newsletter, is winter gear people who are homeless might need: coats, sleeping bags, socks, shoes, gloves and blankets.
What the Free Store doesn’t carry: pet food.
“We think of the individual first,” Janet said. “We don’t want their hands and feet freezing. We want to do what we can to help them.”
There is no expense to people who use the Free Store, and no registration is required. There is, however, a limit of one bag of food per person, Janet said, but people can come back every week. The Clinton Adventist church used to operate a baby pantry, she said, but the Free Store doesn’t carry baby supplies.
To access the Free Store on Wednesday afternoons, use the side door of the church.
Last Saturday, Clinton Community of Christ held an estate sale to help fill the church’s Blessings Boxes. A woman who had donated to the pantry previously willed her estate to the church to use for the Blessing Box ministry, Beverly said. The sale drew a crowd, with cars filling the church parking lot and lined up on Pawnee Street when volunteers arrived.
“One woman who came to the estate sale brought food for the pantry,” Beverly said.
The Blessing Box is part of the mini-pantry movement that started in the Midwest. Clinton Community of Christ has three little pantries under their front portico. One is a Little Free Library, with books. The middle one holds clothing and household goods, and the third one holds food.
The Community of Christ’s first set of Blessing Boxes was made by students at Sherwood Schools, but was vandalized. Larger replacement pantries, purchased from Amazon, were bought with three grants from Truman Lake Community Foundation, Beverly said. A member of the church put the pantries together, and the church also installed a security system to prevent further vandalism.
When they checked the security tapes, they were surprised.
“In a 13-hour period, we had 63 visitors,” Beverly said.
Keeping the food pantry stocked takes a lot of time and a lot of volunteers, two of which are 96 and 97 years old. The church accepts perishable items because the food is picked up almost as soon as it is put in.
One woman donated three gallons of milk and fresh fruit a few weeks ago. By the time Beverly came in three hours later, the box was empty. Some visitors take containers of milk out of the Blessings Box and immediately drink them, she said.
“People thank us with tears in their eyes, and tell us if it wasn’t for us, they would go hungry,” she said.
When asked what people can donate, Beverly replied, “The need is so great now, anything goes.”
Pastor Katie Ritter commended the church members who donate their time.
“The Blessing Box would not be possible without the many hours our volunteers put in meeting people for donations, picking up donations, organizing the goods and making sure the boxes are stocked for members of our community,” Ritter said.
Community of Christ’s Blessing Boxes have support from other churches and from businesses, Beverly said, both monetary and in goods.
A couple celebrating their first anniversary decided to make a donation to the Blessing Box to mark the occasion. The first anniversary gift is usually a gift of paper to symbolize possibilities of new marriage, but they chose to give to the Blessing Box, epitomizing the mantra of the grass-roots organization: “Have a Blessing — Give One. Need a Blessing, Take One.”
The church responded on its facebook page:
“We’d like to wish a happy anniversary to the lovely couple who chose to bless our boxes with donations several days this week! The continued generosity of our community is amazing!”
If you are interested in making a substantial donation of food, call the number on the Clinton Community of Christ facebook page to arrange someone to meet you at the church, 108 Pawnee.
Golden Valley Seventh-Day Adventists have been helping fill people’s empty stomachs since December 2016 by partnering with Harvester’s Community Food Network every third Monday of the month. Anyone with a need for food is welcome to receive food by bringing their vehicle and joining the line by 8 a.m. People picking up food are asked to follow the cars all the way around the cul-de-sac, and not to turn into the church lot until they have driven all the way down on the right and back up. For safety’s sake, stay in the car and have the trunk open and cleaned out in order to receive the food provided. For more information, go to the church website, gvsda.com, or the church’s Facebook page.
A mainstream Protestant church, Seventh-Day Adventists operate the largest Protestant faith-based health care system in the world. In addition to hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, the Seventh Day Adventist Church maintains more than 9,000 schools worldwide, and the community development and disaster-relief agency serves 130 countries.
At Golden Valley Adventist, 2000 N. Community Dr., Clinton, Pastor Marty Resz leads services on Sabbath morning (Saturdays) at 10:45 p.m. The name Seventh Day refers to the Sabbath of the Hebrew scriptures on the seventh day of the week, Saturday, when God rested. Adventist refers to the return, or second advent, of Christ. Early Christians switched worship services to Sunday, the Lord’s Day, to commemorate the resurrection, which signifies a new creation.
The international headquarters of the Community of Christ, which has members in 60 countries, is in Independence, Mo. At Clinton Community of Christ, weekly Sunday School classes are held at 9:45 p.m., with church services at 10:45 p.m.
