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The Chard Wray Memorial
Food Pantry
The
Chard Wray Memorial Food Pantry was established in 1989 as an outreach
program of St. Stephen's. Today the Food Pantry is called upon to
feed hundreds of people each year – in fact, our records from January of 2004
through April 2007 indicate that 1706 families totaling 4,555 people received
food.
Although an outreach of our parish, the Pantry is heavily
supported by other churches: Sacred
Heart Catholic Church, First United Methodist
Church, First
Baptist Church,
Hardwick Christian Church, Hope Lutheran Church,
Bethel Baptist
Church, Evergreen
Baptist Church,
and Hopewell United Methodist
Church. Countless
individuals and many civic clubs and organizations participate in its
support. The Beta Clubs of both middle schools and Baldwin
High School are staunch supporters,
as well as the Honor Society at John
Milledge Academy. The pantry is also a recipient of the Boy
Scouts "Scouting For Food" each spring. Various clubs & organizations at
GC&SU and GMC support the pantry periodically. American Legion Post # 6 faithfully
supports the pantry monthly. EMS of Oconee Regional Medical Center has
sponsored food drives which benefits the
pantry. The employees and management
of Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. have been the
major supporter of the pantry for the past several year. During the Christmas season their
tremendous generosity in the “Holiday Giving Drive” actually sustains the
pantry for most of the year.
Recipients
of food may come every sixty days, and are screened and referred to the food
pantry by Baldwin County Department of Family & Children Services. Referrals are also made by the Oconee Center, the Salvation Army, the school
systems and area churches.
A dedicated
volunteer group of more than 40 individuals from St. Stephen's, First United
Methodist, Sacred Heart Catholic, Toombsboro Christian and Hardwick Christian
churches, along with volunteers with no church affiliation staff the Food
Pantry. Another 9 volunteers purchase and deliver food to the pantry, and
stock the shelves. The Food Pantry is open Tuesday through Friday from
9:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. (noon).
Habitat for Humanity
Members of St. Stephen's participate in a
work day several times a year on a Habitat for Humanity house in
Milledgeville. For more information about our local Habitat
organization, visit their web site.
Meals On Wheels
St. Stephen's day of the week to deliver
meals is Tuesday. We deliver
meals every Tuesday of each month. If you would like to volunteer,
please contact Maidana Nunn at 478-452-0147.
Regional/Global Outreach
2000 - Funded the building of an Anglican Church
in Allentown, Sierra Leone
2001 - New York City Emergency Relief following September 11
2002 - Jerusalem 2000 and Habitat Jordan
2003 - Habitat International
2004 - Diocese of Dar Es Salaam
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