More in store
Church with popular thrift shop adds meal ministry.
Achurch with a thrift store ministry recently has added another aspect to its compassionate outreach to the surrounding community.
Nicoma Park United Methodist Church has begun a meal ministry called Lunches of Love.
The Rev. Nancy McCullough, senior pastor, said the church now offers free sack lunches every fourth Saturday at the church, NE 19 and Westminster, and its nearby Helping Hands Thrift Store.
On a recent Saturday morning, McCullough distributed some of the lunches to community members who had no transportation to the church. At the same time, church members Charlie Jones, Sheryl Cuthriell and Paula Nicholson gave lunches and bottles of water to visitors outside the bustling thrift shop.
Jones said they distributed more than 120 lunches and almost 100 bottles of water.
“You’ve got to be part of it. It’s won- derful,” he said.
Each lunch included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese sandwich, hard-boiled egg, an apple, cookie, crackers and a Bible verse.
Cuthriell said she participated in the project because she knows there are many people in the community-atlarge who struggle with hunger.
“You go downtown to Bricktown, and there’s always people asking for a handout. I wanted something to pass out to people with a little Scripture. This was kind of similar to what I was envisioning,” she said.
McCullough said she came up with the idea after visiting some of the elementary schools in the area and learning that many of the students are part of a Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma program that provides them with a backpack filled with easy-to-prepare meals and snacks for the weekends.
The pastor said she found out that some of the students end up eating some of the the food intended for the weekend before they leave school on Friday. McCullough, a former New Orleans school teacher, said she remembered some of her students attending school with stomachaches because they didn’t have enough to eat at home.
She said she brought her idea for the monthly lunch program to her congregation and the church members responded with enthusiasm.
McCullough helped start the same program at Spencer United Methodist Church, 5201 Palmer Ave., where she also serves as pastor. While Nicoma Park United Methodist offers its lunch program on the fourth Saturday of each month, the Spencer church offers the program on the third Saturday of each month.
“Now we have an opportunity to offer food, especially to for our children,” McCullough said.
Popular outreach ministry
Charlie Jones said the church’s thrift store is extremely popular and was voted “Best Thrift Store in Eastern Oklahoma County” at one point.
His wife, Cathy Jones, is the store’s director.
She said it is housed in the church’s former building and is open each Wednesday and Saturday. Wylie Cuthriell, Sheryl Cuthriell’s husband, said the store ministry started out as a coat closet outreach his wife started years ago. He said the church also held garage sales to raise money for mission efforts, and eventually the coat closet and garage sales evolved into the thrift store.
Cathy Jones said the key to the store’s popularity is its low prices — 25 cents for all clothing except jeans and coats, which cost $2.
Plus, people seem to enjoy shopping there, knowing that the money they spend will go to community charities.
Cathy Jones said the church distributes the thrift store proceeds to a different charity each month. Organizations that have received Healing Hands funds include Skyline Urban Ministries, Circle of Care, Ice Angels and Cookson Hills School in Kansas, Oklahoma. She said proceeds from the store also help the church support missionaries in the Republic of Congo and Cambodia.
Church member Carol McGhee is in charge of the sorting through donations to the store. The items eventually are distributed throughout the store, which includes a clothing room, book room, an area for linens, kitchenware and a seasonal Christmas store located in the basement.
Jones said the store is only open two days a week because it is run solely by volunteers. She said volunteers come from several different Christian denominations to make sure the store continues to thrive.
“They are all here working for the Lord,” she said.
Tammy Buttery, of Choctaw, is a frequent store customer.
She said she enjoys shopping for bargains at the thrift shop because she knows the church continues to aid many people through the thrift store ministry.
“It’s a really good place. I’ve seen them help a lot of people,” she said.