What started out almost two and-a-half years ago serving less than 10 people a week in need of food has now grown to a major volunteer effort that not only provides food, but also clothing, furniture items and toys for children at Christmas with over 500 people a week benefitting.

Days of Grace Food Pantry, located in south Albany on Hwy. 127, next door to Pizza Hut, donates boxes of food and other items once weekly to those in need, especially the elderly and residents on fixed incomes, or for other reasons where people are in need of necessities the food pantry ministry can provide.

Roger Owens said the idea originated in the spring of 2014 when his wife, Sherri, felt the need to put in such a food donation location to help people. In the initial stages, they rented a one small-room space with only two shelves.

Owens said on the first donation day, only three people showed up. Since then, the project has grown and the couple had to find a larger location, places to get food and figure out ways to really get started when the number of participants began to grow.

At times, when they began to wonder if they could make the project work, Owens said Bro. David Carr of the King of King radio ministries out of Somerset, who has assisted with the food pantry in various ways since the beginning, told them to “open the door, God will provide.”

Owens said that small number of three people soon grew to over 200 people a week they served, and it out-grew their initial location, prompting the need to find a larger facility. Although the average number that visit the pantry each week is around 520, up to 667 have come in one week.

Owens said he was originally working 60 hours a week in a regular job, but through faith, quit the job and now he and his wife make a living via an in-home business while at the same time managing the operations, collections and distributions of the food panty.

Days of Grace have seven to eight volunteers who work two or three days per week.

Initially only food was donated to those in need, but eventually donations were made that involved furniture items that people may need, for example, if they lose their home in a fire, such as furniture, toasters, coffee makers, clothes, blankets, to name a few.

Owens said it took them about six months to finally obtain a 501(k) status, or non-profit status where donations to the pantry are tax deductible.

The project is operated solely through donations and currently three primary churches are assisting with offerings monthly, including Clear Fork Baptist, Twin Lakes Fellowship and Gospel Independent Baptist. Owens said other churches occasionally donate monetarily and some donate other services. He added, however, he wished they could get more churches in the county to participate.

“Some people even walk in off the street and donate,” Owens said, adding that 100 percent of funds collected go toward buying food and paying rent and utilities.

The pantry obtains its food from Feeding America out of Elizabethtown, saying they can obtain food from that organization from 12 to 19 cents per pound

Furniture and other items supplied to customers come through private donations and local businesses and stores that donate items. Clothes are generally donated by individuals. Even bedroom suites and mattresses are sometimes available.

Last Thursday, the last day the pantry was open–which was not the usual day of the week for the pantry, but still 470 people came out. The pantry is open each Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. But those hours aren’t the only times people in need of food or other items can get assistance from the pantry. “We may come in two or three times a day for emergencies, such as someone who has lost their belongings in a fire, or elderly in need of food,” he said.

“We try to keep enough items on hand, including military meals, in case of storms and so forth,” he said. He added that some food and emergency items are donated by the Christian Appalachian Project out of Corbin, such as snack food, and from local stores like Save-A-Lot.

Due to the high volume of participants who use the pantry, one box of food per household is given out each week.

Volunteers also deliver boxes of food to several individuals, including to Golden Harvest Village and other elderly individuals who cannot get out and come to the pantry in person.

Owens noted that 75 to 80 percent of those who come to the pantry each week are repeat customers. “If they (participants) are hurting this week, in most cases they will still be hurting next week,” he said. “We are trying to help those in need, especially the elderly,” he added.

Toy donations are also accepted year-round and volunteers separate and wrap them and they are given away to children around Christmas. And speaking of children, Owens noted they also try to keep such things as baby formula, etc., in stock and include a gospel track in each box donated.

In cases where someone who is handicapped comes by, volunteers carry the food or other items needed to their vehicles. Owens stressed the only requirement of anyone who uses the pantry is if they “have a need.”

Owens also gave praise to one of the pantry’s volunteers, local pastor Roger Jones of Walnut Grove United Methodist Church. He said Bro. Jones had become instrumental in their work. “He has prayers with people and they really open up to him,” he said.

Owens said the pantry operated on an almost zero budget, saying “we almost never have enough, but do have enough.” Russell Smith, a volunteer who was at the pantry last week, said the Owenses were truly doing “God’s work.”

The building now being rented is owned by R. C. Real Estate of Bowling Green, whose owners have local ties. Owens said the group gave the pantry some breaks on rent, such as not requiring a deposit and so forth. The pantry has been in its current location for almost two years now.

“People in Clinton County in general are really supportive,” he said, adding again he would like to see more church participation, but added they keep up with and show people where the money collected goes, including publishing a monthly report in donations, funds raised and expenditures monthly in the newspaper.

Owens also noted that Flowers Banking Company of Russell Springs donated bread items each week and that the local hospital and other businesses donate boxes and other items.

Owens said the biggest reward he got out of operating the pantry was to see “some elderly person give a hug with tears in their eyes saying ‘thanks’ ”, or when a child even gets excited at seeing a box of food. “In some cases, the food we donate is the only food some people have in their cabinets at home each week,” he said.

He said he knows a lot of people who work every day, but just don’t have enough to make ends meet.

“We don’t separate (church) denominations,” he stressed. “But prayers have been a part of our growth.”

He also listed the full-time volunteers who donate their time to making the food pantry and its operations possible, including: Clayton and Mary Dicken, Ermon Brummett, Sandy Rogers, Roger Jones, Letha Amonett, James Holsapple, and Randall Polston. Also, school students on occasion volunteer their time to help, especially during summer months.

Owens said that $2.85 could fix a 15-pound box of food.

Anyone wishing to donate items at any time, or make a monetary, tax-deductible donation, may contact Owens at 606-306-2781 or drop the items or donations off at the pantry, or mail donations to Days of Grace Food Pantry, 801 Tennessee Rd., Albany, Ky. 42602.

Sherri Owens carried boxes of food to a vehicle last Wednesday morning at the Days of Grace Food Pantry during the weekly food distribution. Below, a long line of residents made their way toward the front door of the facility.