Angel Food Ministries: No need for hunger
Published: November 4, 2005
Once a month, a truck pulls up at St. Barnabas Orthodox Church in Lexington, and more than 100 people line up outside to receive a box of groceries.
The box contains several different kinds of meat, canned goods, eggs, cereal, pasta and other items, enough to last a family for a couple of weeks.
All for $25.
You can’t buy that amount of food for that price at most grocery stores these days, but it’s possible at St. Barnabas and three other Midlands locations because of Angel Food Ministries, a faith-oriented food ministry based in Georgia.
“It’s a big help for your food budget — I get about $60 worth of food for my $25,” said Martha Rowell, a member of St. Barnabas Orthodox. “With gas prices the way they are these days, you can’t beat it.”
Angel Food Ministries has been around for 11 years and is the brainchild of the Rev. Joseph Wingo, pastor of Emmanuel Praise Church in Monroe, Ga.
Wingo and his family started the ministry by providing donated low-cost food to 34 families from their back porch in 1994.
“I decided to start Angel Food after working at a Thanksgiving food drive in 1993,” Wingo said. “I really wondered what the people who needed food did for the rest of the year.
“I asked God to show me what he wanted me to do, and that’s how Angel Food evolved.”
As of October 2005, Angel Food Ministries has grown to a program that supplies 230,000 boxes of discounted food to churches in 30 states. The food is then distributed to families and community members who purchase it for $25 a box.
All the food comes from large national companies like Tyson and General Mills and is purchased at a discount. The food is sent to Angel Food warehouses in Georgia and California and then is distributed regionally by truck. Individual churches handle their own orders and distribution of the food boxes.
Rowell, who helps to organize the monthly drive at her church, said she’s happy every month to see people on limited incomes who come to get the boxes.
“That’s the biggest blessing — to be able to help the really needy people get access to this food,” she said. “I’ve heard a couple people say they wouldn’t eat if it wasn’t for being able to get the Angel Food boxes.”
There are about 50 churches statewide in the program, ranging from small, rural churches like Pelion Baptist to larger churches along the coast and in the Upstate.
People drive from as far away as Blythewood and Elgin to pick up food at the monthly Angel Food drop-off at Pelion Baptist, according to the Rev. Walter Ludwick, the church’s pastor.
“It’s a great thing for us because we’re a small country church, and this is a very real way we can reach out to the community,” Ludwick said.
“We’ve got some folks who just want to save a little money, and a lot of folks who tell us that they really depend on this ministry every month.”
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