Central Feeding Ministry in Staunton finding new ways to serve the community

STAUNTON, Va. (WHSV) - For the last 13 years, United Methodist Church’s Central Feeding Ministry has made it its mission to provide meals to those in the Staunton area.

“They are our sisters and brothers in need, and if we can fill that need, that’s what we want to do,” Coordinator for the Feeding Ministry Caroline Jones said.

What began in what is now used as a storage closet inside the church has blossomed into a full-blown operation with 4,000 pounds of food coming through the ministry in a given week.

“Our very first week, I think we had three guests come and get food out of a very small space. In last month’s inventory, we had 499 individuals and 249 households,” Jones said.

The food used at the Ministry comes from community members, donations from grocery stores, and is ordered from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

“We have fresh produce, we have meat, we have dairy products, we have bread, and then we do have our Go pantry. People that are not able to come to us, for whatever reason, we take food to them,” Head of Outreach at Central Feeding Ministry Connie Davis.

Through the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank’s Capacity Fund, the Ministry recently received a ‘Go Pantry’, which is a van used to deliver food to households and individuals who cannot come to pick up food.

The Ministry also built a ‘take and go’ food box just outside the church’s doors, which never closed even during the height of the pandemic.

“Just to kind of lift their spirit, we were handing out homemade soup every week pretty much out on the street and then kind of grew from there. The need never stopped,” Reverand Wong Un said.

The need will never stop as the rest of the Ministry agrees there is always someone they can feed.

“It brings a lot of joy, I think. I know to Caroline’s heart and to mine that we are able to help people in our community,” Davis said.

For more information on Central Feeding Ministry and its services, click here.

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