Share Food program feeds the hungry

Do you believe that God answers prayers? Amissville United Methodist Church had been involved with a food program that closed up. One Sunday morning, Barbara Sanders stood up in church and announced that we were looking for another way to feed the hungry in our area. She asked the church members to pray for a program. After the service Dwayne and Debra Blackburn told Barbara that they were involved with such a program at Liberty UMC in Bealeton. Barbara got in touch with Winona Brown and the rest is history. Amissville United Methodist Church joined the Share Food Program in March 2013.

Barbara Sanders, who has a big heart for feeding the hungry, is in charge of the program. She trained under Winona Brown and Liz Vermillion at Liberty UMC for six months. She needed at least 25 boxes to qualify for our church to go out on its own, and that happened quickly. Today we average between 60 and 80 boxes per month.

Debra and Dwayne Blackburn and Chuck Duncan travel to Fredericksburg each month to bring the food back. They leave Amissville around 4:30 a.m. to be there by 6, and then they deliver the food to Bealeton and Amissville. Debra and Dwayne have been involved with Share for a number of years.

We are also blessed by the fact that Panera Bread of Culpeper donates bread and other baked goods each month.

Our area has grown since we started. It now includes Rappahannock, Culpeper and Clark counties with churches including Mt. Nebo in Front Royal, Bread of Life Ministries in Culpeper, Jeffersonton Baptist Church in Culpeper County and Amissville United Methodist Church.

Amissville UMC members generously provide at least 20 packages each month to be distributed to the needy in the community. Volunteers who help with the program include members of the United Methodist Men, the youth, members of the congregation and recipients of the food. Food is distributed to shut-ins in the community who cannot drive. The success of this food ministry depends on the help that we receive from each person — from the drivers to those who bag the food.

Amissville United Methodist Church is located at 14760 Lee Hwy. For more information about Share Food, contact Barbara Sanders at 540-937-2693 (or me, Pastor Maxine Crenshaw, at 540-937-4978, if you can’t get in touch with Barbara).

We would like to thank Share Food Network for providing such a good selection of quality products to pass on to our people. If anyone wants to come and see the Share Program in action, the next delivery date is this Saturday (July 25) at about 8 a.m. We never know exactly when the food will arrive from Fredericksburg to be packaged for distribution, so ask our volunteers to please be a bit flexible, but all are welcome.

THE REV. MAXINE CRENSHAW Pastor, Amissville United Methodist

Church