GENTRY — GFA Food Pantry will be opening on Monday at the First Assembly of God, located at 821 E. Main Street in Gentry.
For several years the church had a small food pantry, serving 5-10 families a month on an as-needed basis. The church's new pastor, Michael Powers, had a vision for a large food pantry that will serve hundreds of families per month, so the church partnered with the NWA Food Bank and Convoy of Hope's Rural Compassion to receive food to be given away as part of the only certified food bank in Gentry.
Several other Gentry churches plan to partner with the new pantry. A special meeting was to be held on Tuesday (after press time) at the Chamber of Commerce Building in Gentry to further involve other area churches, organizations and individuals in the food pantry.
Angie Taylor and her daughter Chelsea have volunteered to manage and help with the food distribution at the new food pantry. The Taylors said the pantry will offer canned goods, fresh vegetables, bread and meats. In addition to shelves of neatly organized canned and packaged goods, the pantry had two large freezers filled with frozen meats and other items for those in need of food assistance.
According to the church's Facebook page, the pantry will "stock canned goods, boxed meals, pasta, meat, some dairy and lots of miscellaneous items." Members of the community are welcome to donate items to the pantry, as well.
Tentative hours will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays. Clients may receive food one time per month and are asked to make an appointment prior to coming so that food may be boxed or bagged for them in advance of their arrival.
Families requesting food assistance will be asked to fill out a simple form which includes items like their names, addresses, number of people in the household and ages of household members. This is information required by the NWA Foodbank and Convoy of Hope, according to Pastor Powers, and will also enable workers at the food bank to package food items more suitable to each family's needs.
The food bank was anticipating serving as many as 300 to 500 families per month but now Powers is estimating the numbers could be as high as 1,000 families per month because the pantry's service area covers much of the Northwest Arkansas region. Powers said he originally thought the pantry would serve those in the Gentry, Decatur and Gravette area but the pantry has already received inquiries from people living as far away as Fayetteville.
Powers said those receiving food assistance will not be asked or pressured to attend services at the church. We are just here to serve and meet people's needs, he said.
"People are welcome (to come to services) if they wish to come," Powers said. "But this is about meeting needs, that's all," Powers added, saying some might come but most probably wouldn't. He also said he hoped the pantry would unite churches locally in this effort to meet people's needs.
Pointing to his office, just off the room in which the food pantry is housed, Powers said he was there if people coming for food wished to come in and have him pray with them and for them.
For more information, or to make an appointment to receive food assistance, call 479-736-8415.
Community on 02/22/2017