IMMOKALEE\u2014When the government shutdown began in October, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which serves nearly three million Floridians each month, became a casualty. Local churches, community organizations and businesses responded quickly by filling in the gap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for the rural, heavily farm-working community of Immokalee, the need for food assistance was heightened as the largest chain grocery store also closed for an eight-month projected renovation at the same time SNAP benefits dried up. With a large percentage of the population relying on bus transportation, bicycles and foot traffic\u2014the closest grocery store is in the neighboring community of Ave Maria, located 20 minutes away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s where Fellowship Church<\/a>, a Florida Baptist<\/a> church with campuses in Immokalee and Ave Maria, stepped in to fill the gap for its community and church family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The southwest<\/a> Florida church already had a vibrant, weekly food pantry distribution for its community. However, the need for food and basic provisions tripled overnight\u2014heightening the critical need for serving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFellowship Church is FOR our community, and we\u2019re FOR sharing the gospel with every man, woman, boy and girl,\u201d said Timothy Pigg, lead pastor at Fellowship Church. \u201cContinuing to fill this crucial and immediate need for those in our community is the least we can do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Each week, the ministry packs and distributes more than 350 canvas bags filled with meat, fresh produce, eggs and other pantry items, enough food for a week of meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the week, Fellowship Church members\u2014specifically legacy member 55 years old and older\u2014pick up donations from Dollar General and receive truckloads from Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida<\/a>, Midwest Food Bank<\/a>, and the USDA. Meats are frozen, and food is sorted onto shelves to be put into bags for recipients to pick up on Saturday mornings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTaking the time to feed the personal needs opens the door to reach the spiritual needs as well,\u201d said Charleston Farber, legacy pastor at the church and Harry Chapin coordinator. \u201cWe\u2019ve had many opportunities to pray with and share the gospel with people. It truly is one of our largest ministries.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Recognizing the food pantry is a vital way of serving and reaching its community with the gospel on a weekly basis, the church invested in additional commercial freezer units, rolling carts, a box truck and additional supplies to reach more people\u2014even dedicating a large portion of its facility and gymnasium to manage and facilitate an ongoing weekly distribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have 20 to 25 volunteers who all know what to do when they get here,\u201d said Vicki Clagett, food pantry coordinator and longtime member. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work, but we have fun and laugh and have fellowship with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur church membership has kept the ministry afloat, and God has provided every need, including the freezers and the food. It all comes from God, and as long as we keep God at the center, He just keeps blessing,\u201d said Clagett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, more than 350 families rely on the weekly food pantry distribution, with the number anticipated to grow\u2014to more than 15,000 annually. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IMMOKALEE\u2014When the government shutdown began in October, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which serves nearly three million Floridians each month, became a casualty. Local churches, community organizations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":69938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,40,2617,22,50],"tags":[2991,2990,2989,2992,807,2993,2988,581],"class_list":["post-69877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","category-developing","category-featured","category-providing","category-region-southwest","tag-ave-maria","tag-fellowshp-church","tag-government-shutdown","tag-harry-chapin-food-bank-of-southwest-florida","tag-immokalee","tag-midwest-food-bank","tag-snap","tag-timothy-pigg"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69878,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69877\/revisions\/69878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}