Volunteers at the Sweet Home Seventh Day Adventist Church take seriously the Biblical charge to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.
Last year, volunteers distributed more than 57,000 pounds of food to Sweet Home families, all at no cost to the receiver.
Program coordinator Edna Sprague said up to 125 families each month benefit from church volunteer emergency efforts.
“We work with government agencies to provide families with canned goods, fruit, vegetables and the like,” Mrs. Sprague said. “We are busiest usually toward the end of the month.”
Involved with the community service program for 6 1/2 years, Mrs. Sprague said the number of families served each month rarely drops below 85.
“We try to give everyone a good assortment of food items. Enough for a two or three day supply,” Mrs. Sprague said. “Families can come once a month. Since we use government food items, families have to meet income guidelines. However, we would never turn anyone away because we have a good stock.”
The Adventist volunteers get much of their food from the Linn-Benton Food Share at Tangent. Food costs about 5 1/2 cents per pound, although some items are more expensive.
“Our bill is about $200 per month and they give us some things free,” Mrs. Sprague said.
In addition to food items, the volunteers can provide families in need with clothing and bedding, even some furniture items.
Open each Monday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., up to 10 volunteers are kept busy. Recent volunteers included Mrs. Sprague, her husband Paul, George Braatz, Lee Cook, Lois Norris, Lola Barrows, Eva Hamilton and Wayne Hardin.
“We just like helping people,” Mrs. Sprague said. “We feel it’s what the Lord wants us to do, to help the needy.”
The program helps all ages, Mrs. Sprague said. “We see everyone from young to old, from a single person to families with 10 members.”
No monetary help is provided, although a government manual is given out that provides information about where services can be obtained.
Need has grown over the years, Mrs. Sprague said.
“When I first started, we would see 50-60 families a month, now we see more than 90,” she said. “We helped 123 families in October.”
Program funding comes from the United Way, and church efforts including rummage sales and craft items made for a yearly camp meeting.
“Some families we see every month, others we see three or four times a year,” Mrs. Sprague said. “We see them only when they really need it.”
Although food distribution is only once a week, volunteers are kept busy several times each month, picking up items at Linn-Benton Food Share or picking up day-old bread.
“We take the station wagon and load it up,” Mrs. Sprague said with a laugh. “We have five freezers at the church that we like to keep filled.”
Church Pastor John Knobloch said the community service project falls right in line with the international Adventist program called Adventist Development and Relief Agency.
“This is one of the largest relief organizations in the world,” Pastor Knoblach said. “We help in underdeveloped countries and in emergency situations.”
In addition to their local efforts, the volunteers provided 253 boxes of items to ADRA.
In all, they volunteered some 2,510 hours last year alone.
To learn more about the program, call Mrs. Sprague at 367-4918.