|
ABOVE: Joe Jackson (left), a volunteer, and Ray MacAnanny, a founder of Storehouse Ministries, sort through food in the group's warehouse on Routes 2 and 17. Volunteers distribute food to those who need a helping hand.
A recipient of Storehouse Ministries' hunger-relief program gathers up the food that volunteers deliver to Payne's Motel, one of the older Fredericksburg motels that serves as home to those who can't afford an apartment or house in the fast-growing area. |
John T. Johnson stood outside a warehouse across from the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds this week waiting for food.
The 74-year-old Spotsylvania County resident said he barely survives on his Social Security checks. So, when he learned from a friend there was a place that gives bags filled with bread, milk, meat and dessert for free, he had to go.
"After I pay my bills, there's nothing left," he said. "And I need all the help I can get."
He isn't alone.
Storehouse Ministries, a Christian organization off Routes 2 and 17, feeds about 2,000 people a month, many of whom are like Johnson--on a fixed income and struggling to pay bills.
Founder Ray MacAnanny, who created the organization three years ago, said everything they do is for Jesus Christ.
"We could go to church, but if we don't take care of the least of these, [Jesus] says, 'Depart from me, I don't know you,'" MacAnanny said. "We need to look for the least and supply."
Storehouse differs from food banks around the region in many ways.
It is completely volunteer-based--most workers are members of Spotsylvania Church of God, Promised Land Praise and Worship Center, Grace Church of Fredericksburg and Highway Assembly of God.
Storehouse Ministries doesn't sell food by the pound and there are no membership or maintenance fees. The organization has no paid employees and all expenses are paid out of his pocket, he said.
MacAnanny is no stranger to feeding the poor. In 1991, he and his church pastor, the Rev. John Gimenez, pastor of Rock Church in Virginia Beach, started "A Can Can Make A Difference," a nonprofit organization that collected food and distributed it to churches and agencies that feed the needy.
After MacAnanny moved to the Fredericksburg area, he joined the Rock Church Ministries congregation on Bridgewater Street.
When the church created a local branch of A Can Can Make A Difference in 1997, MacAnanny financially assisted the project, said the Rev. Mark Lipscomb, the church's senior pastor.
The local organization donated food to churches and other groups who in turned gave it to the needy. But the needs of the people weren't being met, he said.
When the two volunteers who were running the warehouse moved away, Rock Church decided to close operations in 2002, he said.
"It was a lot of responsibility and we weren't having a direct impact in someone's life," Lipscomb said.
MacAnanny wanted to continue feeding the needy and decided to lease the same building and start Storehouse Ministries--the name was chosen for its biblical reference.
He partnered up with the Rev. Charlie Olivieri, pastor of Promised Land Ministries, which meets at Chancellor Christian Church in Spotsylvania.
All the food the group collects is given away either to the needy, homeless or picked up by churches that work with the poor.
People aren't screened, but they must sign their name and list their phone number and church name--if they attend one.
Referring to the Bible account of Jesus feeding people with bread and fish on the Mount of Olives, Olivieri said Jesus wasn't selective and so neither is the organization.
"There are some people who might not need it as much as others but I'm not there to judge who is deserving and not," he said. "Some people are working and because of certain circumstances--health problems for instance--others aren't. They have no food and we are there to help."
Volunteers spend Tuesdays and Thursdays collecting and packing bags with food they receive from local stores such as Giant, Ukrop's and BJ's. They give the bags to anyone who knocks on their door.
They also receive food from Feed the Children, a Christian nonprofit organization based in Oklahoma City, Okla.
"We appreciate the local support we get," Olivieri said.
Fredericksburg Christian School and some churches rotate days to prepare meals and bring them to those who live in aging motels and other sites where homeless people might stay.
Lee Ann Mitchell, 22, who volunteers with her 14-year-old twin sisters, Sara and Micah, said they learned of the ministry from their youth group at the Spotsylvania Church of God.
"We liked it so much we started coming every Tuesday for the past two years," she said. "It's a blessing."
To reach JESSICA ALLEN: 540/368-5036 jiallen@freelancestar.com
