Troup's UMC opening community food pantry
BY CHARLOTTE SMITH Editor

The Troup UMC will soon open its food pantry.

It may be better to give than to receive, but you can do both at Troup's soon-to-be-open food pantry.

Located in the basement of the First United Methodist Church, the food pantry is a true "community cupboard," with local individuals and groups donating the money and materials that will benefit their own friends and neighbors.

"We know it's a need here, and we've really had a good response from the whole community," said Mike Cline, pastor of Troup's UMC. "I think this will be a great thing for the community and a good thing for the church to do."

The initial plan is for the food pantry to be open a couple of hours per day, one day a week (probably Thursday).

"It's kind of a learning process for us," said Cline. "Because we haven't done it before, we've had to adjust on the fly as we go through this.

"If we are completely overwhelmed with people, we'll have to adjust for that. If the number of people is less than we think, we'll adjust that way and figure out what we need to do and where the real needs are so we can meet them."

Although his church is spearheading the project, Cline emphasized that this is a community effort.

"There have been a lot of people stepping up to say 'we want to help,'" he said, with members of the community contributing money and goods, helping get the church's facilities ready and volunteering to man the food pantry when open.

Interest has also come from other areas such as Price- Carlyle and Mixon, and the Troup food pantry will also be officially affiliated with PATH (People Attempting to Help).

"They have a hard time reaching this par t of the county. This will be a really nice slot for us to fill and to reach people here who need help," said Cline, adding that the PATH connection will also help the pantry buy goods through the food bank in Tyler.

"This will be a nice fall back for whatever we don't get in terms of community support," he said.

The PATH affiliation will also help the fledgling project determine guidelines for food disbursement as well as refer individuals who need more help than the food pantry can offer.

"We will really be an extension of their ministry to this party of the county, and we can get help from them on some of things we really can't provide here in the same way that they can," said Cline, citing such needs as job training, medical assistance and prescription services.

PATH's guidelines determ i n e h o w m u c h food is g i v e n o u t based on the n u m - ber of people and on t h e recommended food groups.

Right now, Cline said the food pantry is focusing on nonperishable items such as canned goods, beans, flour, sugar, rice and cereals, but hopes to eventually have a freezer. They may also expand to non-food items such as diapers that can be stored handily.

The pantry's location in the church's basement is accessible from Duval Street, said Cline, and there is also handicap access through the back door of fellowship hall.

Although not officially open, the pantry has already helped some families. The initial stock of supplies came from Troup Cares.

In the past, proceeds from the drive went directly to the Tyler food bank.

In addition to the Tyler food bank, future needs will be met through donations and Brookshire's, said Cline. Anyone wanting to donate to the effort can call the church at 903-842-3320.

"We've really been given a good basis to start with and there's been a lot of enthusiasm from the community," said Cline.

"I really think God provides on those kinds of things and we'll have food when we need it to satisfy the people who are hungry. I think everybody involved in this trusts that this will be the case."