New faith-based initiative provides aid to church food pantries - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

New faith-based initiative provides aid to church food pantries - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

TUPELO – When the neediest are hungry in Northeast Mississippi, there are those who will come together to help.

The Family Resource Center has partnered with The Baptist Association in Booneville through a new faith-based initiative aimed at working with area organizations to support food pantries.

The Baptist Association pantry feeds folks in Prentiss County with food packages assembled by volunteers each month.

“This has been going on for a very long time, I’ve only been doing it for two years as missions director but maybe 20 years or more,” said Dr. C.W. Harrison, Director of Missions at the Prentiss County Baptist Association in Booneville.

At the monthly pantry meeting last month, members of The Family Resource Center came by to help, including Stanley Huddleston, who is both pastor at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Baldwyn and coordinator for the Family Resource Center of North Mississippi’s new faith-based initiative, wherein Huddleston visits pantries and churches for the Resource Center’s initiative.

Huddleston spoke to those assembled at last month’s pantry meetup in Booneville.

“They have a worship service every time they meet, and so I went there and preached, and gave information about The Family Resource Center while I was there and our faith-based initiative,” Huddleston said.

The initiative, with Huddleston and his team Amanda Frederick and Tony Corrie, is an effort by the Family Resource Center to network with area churches and faith-based organizations to offer mainly education but some financial support. The Resource Center also takes referrals for folks whose needs exceed what churches can provide.

“We’re going to these faith-based organizations, churches in particular, to let them know what resources we have available, and how they can make referrals, if they have people that come to the church, and they have a need beyond their scope, they can send them to our center, and we’ll try to help them, or we can work together to help meet whatever need that might be,” Huddleston said.

Huddleston, who started working for the Resource Center last September, said the initiative began a few months ago to aid organizations already helping the neediest populations.

Goals for the new initiative include providing support through life skills, literacy, after school mentoring and education. The Resource Center’s sister organization, Families First, which covers southern Mississippi, already has a similar initiative.

“We’re just getting off the ground with it...we’re getting out to the churches and getting them the information we have and educating them on how we can partner together and help,” Huddleston said.

Volunteers in the organization, which is comprised of 26 area Baptist churches, come together the second Thursday of every month to provide 80 to 120 clients with food packages.

Harrison said 10 to 12 volunteers will get together on “Food Day” Tuesday to pick up the food and pack the sacks by hand for that following Thursday.

The center will dispense between $60,000 and $80,000 in food value each year to Prentiss County families.

“We’re only limited by how much we can store right now,” Harrison said.

Harrison said the organization does not have a budget for this and relies solely on donations from churches, businesses and individuals, such as an undisclosed man who donates $15,000 to the aid effort each year.

Food packages will include eight large canned items such as vegetables, fruit and potted meats, as well as ready meals like ravioli and chili.

“There may be some that are homeless, but most who come in are just low income and have a need,” Harrison said.

The association has several on-site facilities aimed at helping the needy in Prentiss County, such as a food pantry, clothes closet and meeting rooms.

The next food distribution day will be at the Prentiss County Baptist Association in Booneville on Thursday.

For information on volunteering or partnering with the initiative, visit contact@frcnms.org or call (662) 844-0013.