PB church gives food to those struggling
If you were downtown Monday and got caught in an unusual traffic jam, it was for a good cause.
Monday was a food giveaway day at House of Bread Church, located the corner of Fifth Avenue and Main Street, and cars were lined up and coming from all directions as Saint Mary Harris, pastor of the church, and several volunteers loaded up cars and trucks with boxes and sacks of groceries.
A few minutes before, the church had given Pine Bluff Fire Department personnel 100 turkeys, and last month, it was the Police Department that got 120.
Harris, dressed in all white, said some 450 boxes of food would be handed out before Monday’s giveaway ended.
“Even though we are a small church on the corner, we do some amazing things inside here,” Harris said, standing next to a large collection of filled grocery store sacks waiting to be grabbed up and placed in someone’s vehicle.
And speaking of vehicles, she said, one would be surprised at the nice cars that come through a drive-thru food giveaway.
“Don’t let the car fool you,” she said. “They are trying to keep the car. That’s why they’re in a food line.”
As cars drove up, the drivers
or passengers handed paperwork that described their needs to a volunteer. Then, several other volunteers — arms loaded with boxes, sacks and even open flats of eggs — placed items into trunks or through open car doors and windows. There were a lot of waves, thank yous and Merry Christmases exchanged as the drivers pulled away.
Harris blamed the increase in traffic on the covid-19 pandemic, which, she said, had swelled the ranks of those needing help this year.
Support for her church’s ministry, however, has risen to the challenge, Harris said, with money coming in from a variety of individuals and businesses. One business, GTL Americas, which is developing a gas-to-liquid facility in Jefferson County, called her and asked, “What’s the quickest way to get you some money?” she said. “I gave them our bank account number, and in no time, there was $1,500 deposited into it.”
Another person, she said, walked up and said they liked what the church is doing and said, “Here’s $2,500.”
“So we have a lot of community support,” she said. “A lot of people are out of jobs and children are home. It’s a difficult time.”
With the money, Harris buys a lot of food from the Arkansas Food Bank but also gets donations of food and volunteer help from many businesses and people.
“We have a nice database,” Harris said with a big smile.
Even other churches donate to House of Bread.
As cars drove up, the drivers or passengers handed paperwork that described their needs to a volunteer. Then, several other volunteers — arms loaded with boxes, sacks and even open flats of eggs — placed items into trunks or through open car doors and windows. There were a lot of waves, thank yous and Merry Christmases exchanged as the drivers pulled away.
Mount Harmony Missionary Baptist Church, which Harris described as having a small congregation, took up a collection and raised $2,500 for the House of Bread.
John Jasper, a deacon at St. Harmony, listening to Harris recite all of the different entities that make the church’s work possible, had been quiet but finally spoke.
“Amen,” he said, with enthusiasm “It’s because everybody knows you are doing good work.”