Starlette Pryor was one of the first clients at a new south Tulsa food pantry that opened at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Asbury United Methodist Church, 6767 S. Mingo Road.
The pantry, located in the church’s Venue building just south of the main campus, is a collaboration between the church and Restore Hope, a United Methodist ministry that targets hunger, homelessness and poverty.
“I needed to come here to find food for my children this month,” Pryor said as she waited for her name to be called.
“It’s usually kind of hard during the last week of the month. I was wondering how I was going to feed the kids.”
She has nine children, six at home, ages 11 to 16.
“Teenagers. They eat a lot,” she said.
Pryor said she was happy about the new food pantry.
“I’m very blessed. This will help tremendously. I’m so glad for this organization,” she said.
“They’re very friendly. It’s been a good experience,” she said.
Asbury, one of America’s largest and most affluent United Methodist churches, is located near Woodland Hills Mall, an area of Tulsa not normally associated with poverty.
But looks can be deceiving, says the Rev. Tom Harrison, pastor of Asbury.
“This is not an affluent area at all,” he said.
“It was through our relationship with Union High School that we found out just how extensive this is. They have some of their students who are homeless, which was shocking.”
About two-thirds of the students at Union High School, “where my kids went to school,” are on the free or reduced lunch program, he said, and at Grove Elementary School near the church, it’s close to 100 percent.
“It was stunning to find that out … really amazing,” he said.
Asbury’s response to the needs in that neighborhood goes beyond the food pantry. The church provides mentors for Grove Elementary, and a large garden plot where students can grow vegetables. The Asbury Union Learning Center is church-owned property used by Union Public Schools to offer GED classes.
“We’ve helped with Union girls who have gotten pregnant,” Harrison said.
“We’ve tried to be a good neighbor. We just want to help.”
Sue Richards, a 43-year member of Asbury, was one of the volunteers on hand Tuesday as the food bank opened.
“I think it’s something that’s very needed in this part of town, though people would say, ‘Come on, you’re right in the heart of everything’ … But there are a lot of apartments and a lot of hurting people.’ “
She said she had already met with two women at the pantry who “needed some prayer and some encouragement.”
“It was humbling. I’ll put it that way,” she said.
Officially called Restore Hope South Tulsa, the food bank is a satellite of the Restore Hope Ministries, 2960 Charles Page Blvd.
Executive Director Jeff Jaynes, an ordained United Methodist minister, said the 38-year-old ministry provides food and rent support to families in need.
It is a “pantry of choice,” he said, allowing clients to select food that they want, and know how to cook, "which also has a dignity, the ability to choose,” he said. “And we don’t give expired food.”
He said Restore Hope is a ministry in Tulsa County of the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church, funded by local gifts — Asbury church is the largest donor — and by the statewide conference.
Jaynes said the rent assistance program has been “extraordinarily successful,” with 99 percent of rent assistance clients avoiding homelessness, far above the national average.
The pantry will be open to Tulsa County residents from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays, with additional times added as needed. Clients will be required to present photo identification, a social security card for each member of their household and recent proof of address.
Bill Sherman
918-581-8398
bill.sherman@tulsaworld.com
Twitter: @bshermantulsa
