Benson Baptist Church Food Pantry

The Food Pantry is open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month. Benson Baptist's Food Pantry Ministry has been in existence for about 15 years. It is designed to provide food on a monthly basis to anyone who requests it. We serve close to 225 families monthly, and those families represent about 600 people. On average, we disperse approximately 6,000 pounds of food. Our food is purchased from Food Bank for the Heartland, and we receive bread from Rotella Bakery as well as donations from Sunset Hills Baptist Church. At times we also find it necessary to purchase food from local grocery stores. Our congregation also donates food. The food ordered from the Food Bank is delivered on the last Tuesday of the month. The delivered groceries are put away in the basement, and boxes are then filled with food in preparation for the Food Pantry, which is held the last Saturday of the month. In addition to food, we supply clothing and incidental items to our clients. These items are supplied by donations from our congregation, Walmart and other sources. Our funding comes from congregational donations, occasional grants and church-allocated funds, although we are not included in our church budget. We have approximately 40 volunteers each Saturday of operation comprised of our congregation members and some students from Brownell Talbot High School. We also have students from Methodist College of Nursing who provide blood pressure tests and glucose checks for our clients.