Category: Food Pantries

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Community Food Aid Food Pantries NEWS

Passing of Long-Time ACS Volunteer Lowell Tripp

We are saddened to announce the passing of Lowell Irving Tripp, one of our long-time Adventist Community Services volunteers, on December 7, 2021 at the age of 100. He was predeceased by his wife of 72 years Betty Jean Tripp in 2018. They both volunteered for Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, MD for 20 years after his retirement in 1988 from Adventist Risk Management after working 35 years for the church. They managed the food pantry, picked up food from Safeway and Costco each week, stocked the food bags for customers, organized the food in the pantry, and helped out in other ways.

Lowell was a longtime member of the Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, and after he moved to Eltern Haus assisted living in 2017 he regularly watched Atholton Seventh-day Adventist Church livestream with his granddaughters Kristina and Amber. A memorial service will be held for him on January 22, 2022 at the Atholton Church in Columbia, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations that can be made to Adventist Community Services.

He was greatly loved and is survived by his daughter Brenda Coffin of Beltsville, MD and companion Alan Jorgensen, son Warren Irving Tripp and daughter-in-law Tammy Tripp of Superior, CO, granddaughter Kristina Dahabura of Columbia, MD who he helped raise, great-granddaughter Amber Gramkow of Columbia, MD who he also helped raise, granddaughter Ashlee Tripp of CO, grandson Matthew Lowell Tripp and granddaughter-in-law Cristina Melendez Tripp of Westminster, CO, and great-granddaughters Olivia Tripp and Ava Tripp of Westminster, CO.

Let us keep the Tripp family in our thoughts and prayers as they cope with this difficult loss.

 

 

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Community Community Development Food Aid Food Pantries

ReNewed Hope Food Pantry Food Distribution

How do you distribute food to 310 families in just over an hour?
Thoughtful organizing and lots of smiling volunteers!

“God keeps bringing people to be a part of this ministry. About half of those who serve are from the community. This is how God works. He is so amazing!” says Karen, ACS Director of ReNewed Hope Food Pantry at New Haven Adventist Church.

ReNewed Hope Food Pantry in Overland Park, Kansas, experienced a dramatic increase in the number of people they serve each week when COVID-19 came to town. However, they continued to trust God’s guidance and have faithfully served their community each week.

Thank you to Karen and her team inspiring people to… “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

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Disaster Response Food Pantries Hurricanes Video

Willow Grove ACS Center Serves Communities Impacted by Ida

The Willow Grove Adventist Community Services Center is one of several ACS Centers that are still responding to the needs of communities impacted by Hurricane Ida. They organized a distribution event on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, where boxes of food, clothing, comfort kits, and other items were distributed. North American Division ACS Director, Derrick Lea, visited the center to assess the recovery efforts that have been taking place around New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the last two months.

The distribution was scheduled to start at 11:00 am. However, Lea arrived at 10:30 am to see a line of cars already wrapped around the church, leading to the Community Center. As he got out of his car, he was stopped by a young lady that saw his golden yellow shirt and began thanking him, though he had done nothing at all. As he walked towards the entrance of the Center, he realized why she thanked him as he saw a sea of yellow ACS Disaster Response shirts taking the goods and piling them up in the parking lot. There were around 20 ACS volunteers that were busy at work serving the long line of cars. As they were serving the community, Lea quickly thanked them, and they returned to servicing those who were arriving. Though it was the middle of the work week, people had been coming for over an hour and this continued for three more hours.

“This is the community work that shows our care for those often overlooked, and the looks on the faces, and thanks in the voices of those helped can’t be measured. The Allegheny East Conference had received a grant from the NAD for this type of work, and Director Smith said he had around 25 churches that were able to do the same type of work around the affected area,” stated Lea. “I only had a chance to view one such location, but others similarly are serving their communities as well, and while this work might not get the exposure far and wide, those helped appreciate what the Seventh Day Adventist church is doing in their community,” continued Lea.

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Community Development Food Aid Food Pantries

NAD ACS Awarded $250,000 Grant for Food Programs

North American Division Adventist Community Services (NAD ACS) has been supporting the food programs of local ACS food pantries in our conferences within the Division amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, we invested 1.5 million dollars and allocated a grant of $25,000 per conference for COVID-19 food relief efforts. An additional $500,000 was provided for Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and buckets.

This year, NAD ACS received a grant in the amount of $250,000 from a foundation to assist ACS food pantries. In order to maximize the efforts, we have decided to match the funds totaling $500,000. This grant will be distributed to conferences to support ACS food pantries serving millions of people and providing relief to communities.

“As we look back, God has been with us in this challenging journey and has provided resources and guidance; as we are looking forward, we believe that God will always be with us, and ACS volunteers will continue to be relevant and make a difference in their communities,” stated Sung Kwon, Executive Director of NAD ACS.

“ACS has been blessed to develop wonderful relationships with those who work throughout the year in various arenas.  Because ACS has shown a consistency and competency in what we do for the community, we are trusted in times of crisis by governmental, non-Governmental and private companies alike to faithfully assist those that have needs.  I am proud to partner with our colleagues in service during this most challenging of times around the NAD,” stated Derrick Lea, Disaster Response Director of NAD ACS.

  

 

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COVID-19 Food Pantries

ACS Food Pantries Continue Operations

The North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is not only seeking to care for its own during this COVID-19 crisis, but to be the hands and feet of Jesus and reach out to those around us who are suffering. Through Adventist Community Services (ACS), we are pushing out more than $1.5 million to assist our local churches in providing food to our neighbors through food pantries. ACS is also partnering with other church organizations to do what they can to make a difference. I appreciate our team at our headquarters and those in local fields who are working to make a difference. Together we are stronger!

Bonita Shields, Vice President for Ministries, North American Division

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UPDATE – may 5, 2020

  1. Minnesota Conference has eight ACS food pantries. Minneapolis First Church has been serving their community for over ten years through their food pantry operations and over 20 with clothing. South Saint Paul Hispanic Church which is another active ACS Center has been serving their community for over three years.
  2. Mountain View Conference has three ACS food pantries in West Virginia. The Grace Community Church in Logan is currently putting together food baskets and dropping them off on the porches of needy families. Due to COVID-19, they are somewhat limited like everyone else. When possible they will be opening a feeding facility/homeless shelter with cots, showers, food, Bible studies, job opportunities, and etc. in partnership with the Homeless Coalition of WV. The Frostburg SDA Food Pantry is currently serving 30 families, or 75 to 90 persons with food products. The RHEMA CHRISTIAN CENTER has everything in place to start a new food pantry when quarantine is lifted. The food pantry will be in association with the Friends-R-Fun Clinic and Daycare.
  3. Northern New England Conference has ten ACS food pantries. One of the active ones are White Memorial Food Pantry in Portland, Maine, which is open every Thursday morning and serves about 500 families per month. Many of those served are recent immigrants who are very hard hit by job losses during the shutdown. The food pantry is well known in the community and has a good relationship with the regional food bank and a commercial bakery. Auburn SDA Church’s Food Pantry in Auburn, Maine, is open one day a week providing fruit, produce, rice and beans. They serve a population of particularly limited means, and also deliver food boxes to people with mobility issues.
  4. Potomac Conference has ten ACS food pantries. Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington (ACSGW) serves hundreds of meals and food boxes per week to a large population of the Maryland portion of the conference. This center is sponsored by several regional SDA churches. Petersburg SDA Food Pantry in Virginia is serving pre-packaged boxes and bags of food, hygiene, sanitary supplies, and etc. based on family size. Selected volunteers are assisting seniors and physically-challenged clients by taking their items to their vehicle. This pantry is feeding 75 seniors in the area who have had their weekly meal deliveries canceled. Moreover, they’re delivering daily meals to a “rather large” mobile home community of little-to-no income families.

    The Piney Forest ACS Center normally provides a weekly open day for needy community members to come and register for food, clothing, and other support. During the COVID-19 period, clients must call ahead with their needs. Volunteers purchase, pack, and deliver the required items which are left on the client’s porch to maintain social distancing. Community Praise Church (CPC) partners with two other community organizations—Carpenters Shelter Staff and Residents and Alive Alexandria. CPC, formerly named Community Praise Center, provides lunch meals to homeless, vulnerable, and workers who serve them in the Alexandria area. Beltsville Adventist Community Center (BACC) works closely with local government and community organizations to help those hardest hit economically in Beltsville and the surrounding areas. During the COVID-19 response, pre-packaged meals and purchased food baskets are provided through a curb-side pick-up program in the BACC parking lot.

  5. Guam-Micronesia Mission does not have any formal food pantries. However, they have churches that engage in feeding programs. The Agat SDA Church has been actively operating a food pantry for COVID relief. Additionally, a youth mission trip that was cancelled due to the pandemic distributed food that was donated for the project to needy families. GMM is working with the individual islands to determine the relative needs.
  6. Oklahoma Conference has eight ACS food pantries. Joseph’s Storehouse Food Pantry in Muskogee, and Jay Food Pantry in Jay are two of the active ACS facilities serving communities in the state of Oklahoma.
  7. Wisconsin Conference has five ACS food pantries. The Milwaukee Central SDA Church’s food pantry has opened its doors to anyone in need in the area. They have been helping people who are unemployed with their rent. They also went to the extent of covering hotel expenses for a lady with her child for a few days when they became homeless. The Milwaukee Central Hispanic, Madison Community, and Beloit SDA churches have all been helping their communities with non-perishable food, personal hygiene items, and other needs by whatever means possible.

Update – April 23, 2020

    1. British Columbia Conference has ten ACS food pantries. The Better Living Center’s Courthouse Ministry engages in hot meal programs that helps around 300 court attendees a year. McBride Church has a food hamper and a food bank program, too.
    2. Iowa-Missouri Conference has nine active ACS Centers. The Around Town Mobile Food Pantry serves over 500 people monthly in the Des Moines area. The St. Louis ACS Center, Gallatin ACS and Centralia SDA food pantries are also continuing their operations. Golden Valley SDA Church in Clinton, MO is part of the local food bank network and they have monthly food drop off drive-throughs that serve a large number of people.
    3. ACS Centers in Nevada-Utah, Georgia-Cumberland, and Pennsylvania conferences are currently engaged in drive-through food distribution, as well.
  • Lake Region Conference has 14 ACS food pantries who are doing magnificent work. The Flint ACS Center continues to serve over 200 people a week with food and water. The Capitol City Food Pantry has done exemplary work over the years, serving their community daily from 1 am – 1 pm. They help hundreds every week by distributing food and clothing.
  • Southern California Conference has 31 food pantries which are spread out across five counties. There are so many churches that are giving away free food. The 54th Street Church has been distributing meals for several years now. It is one of several churches that’s located in the heart of South-Central Los Angeles. The other church is the University SDA Church. Both churches minister to hundreds of families every other week. The families in these communities are dependent upon these ministries to keep food on the table, especially now with the COVID-19 and the loss of jobs.

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Food Aid Food Pantries

Escanaba ACS Food Pantry in Michigan

Escanaba ACS Food Pantry, located in Escanaba, Michigan is one of the only Food Pantries in the Upper Peninsula. Being that it is the one of the only, they engage in mobile food pantries to different counties also to reach those who are in need. Director Robin Wycoff reported that they had over 1200 families last week that lined up for miles to come and get food that they needed. She says, “It was such an amazing, yet sad day; they served so many but had to also turn away just as much because they ran out of food.” They are currently working with Feeding America and are seen as the main point of getting food to people in the Upper Peninsula. They have been asked to step up by the Feeding America CEO when other pantries have either shut down or are unable to open due to fear. Without any hesitation, Robin expressed her willingness to step in and continue serving the community in this pandemic. The Escanaba Food Pantry currently operates on Mondays and Fridays, and will run three mobile pantries in April and May.

“Don’t you just praise God for our Escanaba team! Also thank you Pastor Daniel Rodriguez as he supports and serves his ACS Food Pantry! I am just praising the Lord more and more everyday for this work!!,” said Chelli Ringstaff, Director of Community Service/Disaster Response, Michigan Conference.

Here is a link to a news story on the Escanaba ACS Food Pantry.

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Food Pantries Local Conference

Pasco Riverview Community Services

The Pasco Riverview Community Services has been serving the Tri-Cities metropolitan area in Washington State for several years. It is located right next to the Riverview Adventist Church. This ACS Center consists of four buildings – a food bank, a small thrift store, a large diaper bank supporting many non-profits and faith-based ministries throughout Tri-Cities, and a storage garage. Their food bank feeds around 1,600 families a month. They continue serving through the COVID-19 pandemic to provide emergency food assistance as demand rises.

On Monday, they received 28 pallets of food. Their food shelves were very bare and they weren’t sure how much food they would get from their single truck load from Second Harvest. However, they ended up receiving three truck loads of non-perishable food items, dog food, and diapers from three different sources. “It was like a fulfillment of the verse in Malachi were it talks about the windows of heaven opening and the blessing being poured out that there is not enough room to receive it,” said Stan Arlt, Co-Director of Pasco Riverview Community Services. Since many of their volunteers are students and older adults, some members of the Washington National Guard have stepped in to help mobilize food distribution in the Pasco community. Read more about it here.