Photo by Ken Odor
Grace Butler and food pantry visitor Steave Athey share a laugh last Wednesday night at St. Matthews Methodist Church. The church served an early Thanksgiving dinner at their newly opened food pantry

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Times are getting harder, and reports nationwide say more folks are visiting food pantries to supplement their food supplies.

At St. Matthews Methodist Church in Centerville, everyone is welcome.

You don’t have to live in Goochland County and you don’t have to provide income information to meet an eligibility requirement.

“It’s very nice; they treat you with respect,” said Barbara Davis on her second visit to the food pantry last Wednesday evening, the night before Thanksgiving.
Not only does the church open their food pantry each Wednesday to those in need, they invite visitors to share in their regular Wednesday evening meal as well.

Davis and her grandmother were enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner in advance.

Floyd Athey said it was his first visit to the food pantry. Athey, who lives on income from his disability check, said he had been turned away at another local food pantry, for having too much income.

Grace Bulter, who heads the committee that runs the pantry, said they had kicked around the idea of an eligibility requirement but had decided against it.

“We’re a Christian church,” said Butler. “We will turn away no one. People who come to the pantry really need it.”

Butler said the church is fortunate in having a very generous congregation. They donate all the canned goods and the pantry gets produce from Costco.

The idea for the food pantry seemed to occur to Butler and Pastor Gordon Pruitt about the same time last year.

Both were attending the Goochland County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at Camp Brady Saunders about a year ago and got to talking about a food bank at St. Matthews.

Butler and Pruitt were both friends with the Pastor of Victory Baptist Church, Bruce Hennigan, and his church’s food pantry program.

Hennigan encouraged them to start one at their church in eastern Goochland, they said.

For the time being, the St. Matthews food pantry is on its own but they hope to qualify to get food from the Central Virginia Food Bank after a three-month period where they demonstrate the need in the area.

Volunteer Kim Filipowicz said the first week they had just three visitors to the pantry, but now they draw as many as 30.

To spark interest in the project, Pastor Pruitt preached a sermon on the upcoming food pantry to enlist volunteer help from the congregation and gave out wrist bracelets with marked with a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew. The response was better than expected, said Pruitt.

More than 50 church members signed up to help.

“The church has really stepped up,” said Pruitt. “People really want to serve.”

St. Matthews, located at 1706 St. Matthews Lane, holds their dinner and food pantry event every Wednesday evening from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.

Photo by Ken Odor
Clients gather and peruse the shelves of the food pantry at St. Matthews’ Church last Wednesday evening.

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