Angel brings food to hundreds of needy
Published: March 28, 2006
Pastor Joe Smith of Southside Union Chapel saw hunger in the eyes of people on Olean’s streets and he couldn’t look away.
Last April Pastor Smith brought Angel Food Ministries to Olean. The nonprofit, nondenominational group sells boxes of food for $25 to families and individuals struggling with the cost of groceries. There are no income requirements. If you eat, you qualify.
Pastor Smith said he heard about the program through churches in Salamanca. He knew people in Olean needed help feeding their families, so he brought Angel Food here.
“Quiet frankly, God just stirred my heart and as a pastor a I just knew a lot of people could benefit from this,” he said. “I also saw it as an outreach of the church. It’s a tangible way meet people’s physical needs and at the same time try to meet their spiritual needs.”
People order food by filling out order forms which are available at Mattress City Sleep Shop, 717 W. State St. Pastor Smith will also e-mail, fax or mail out order forms. You can contact him at (585) 928-2648 Ext. 5 to get an order form or for more information. People can pay with cash, check, money order or food stamps.
Pastor Smith said word of mouth spread news of the program throughout the area.
“The first month we had three orders. The second month we had 60 orders,” he said. “The following month it doubled again. It has been growing exponentially ever since. We just filled 300 orders last month.”
Anticipating continued growth, Pastor Smith reached out to First Baptist Church in Olean for help. The Rev. Dan McDowell, pastor, and the congregation at First Baptist readily agreed to act as an Angel Food distribution center. Angel Food held its first food distribution at First Baptist in Olean Saturday.
One Angel Food box is enough to supplement the needs of a family of four for about a week or an individual for about a month. The menu changes each month.
April’s menu includes 4 pounds of chicken drumsticks or thighs, frozen meals, a breaded chicken breast, cooked meatballs, 1 pound of ground turkey, chicken wings, Philly steaks, smoked sausage, pasta, baked beans, corn, peas, carrots, rice, eggs and a dessert. All for $25. For an additional $18 people can add 4 pounds of sirloin strip steaks or 4 pounds of chicken cordon bleu. For an additional $17 you can order a grill box with 1 pound of Italian sausage, and four each of ribeye steaks, boneless pork chops, chopped beef steak patties and boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
“One of the reasons why this is possible is it is almost an entirely volunteer-run effort,” Pastor Smith said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of churches throughout the United States that participate. It truly is a ministry through the body of Christ.”
The program began in Georgia in 1994 as an effort to help 34 families. Last year Angel Food helped feed over 1.6 million families. In February of this year, the program filled 340,000 orders. Angel Food gets food at reduced or no cost from national food retailers and then distributes it around the country through a volunteer network of churches and community organizations like Southside Union Chapel and First Baptist Church.
Pastor Smith predicted Angel Food will continue to grow in Olean as people struggle to make ends meet.
“It is a ministry that grows from person to person to person,” he said. “I’m projecting that just by the end of the year we’ll have 500 orders in the Olean area.”
He said in Erie, Pa., churches are filling 1,000 Angel Food orders each month. Pastor Smith said he can see Olean’s Angel Food program growing to fill 1,000 orders per month too.
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