Reaching Rural Communities

One of the key ministries of Union Mission that doesn’t get as much attention as some of the other ministries is our Outreach efforts. Obviously, homelessness, addiction, and lack of access to food isn’t just a Charleston or Kanawha Valley issue. In many cases, those issues are even more prevalent in rural communities. For years, Union Mission has provided food to various food pantries and churches across most of central and southern West Virginia. These pantries frequently send trucks to our location in Kanawha City in order to receive food to help restock their shelves.

Earlier this spring, we received a call from one of the pantries we have supported for years. The Little Birch Pantry in Braxton County informed us they had a problem and wanted to see if we could help.

“Their director called me one day,” says Heath Fain, Outreach Director and VP of Operations. “Apparently, their only truck they use to pick up food had suffered a major mechanic issue and could not come to Charleston to collect food supplies. The truck was going to be out of commission for a while.”

With daily demand for food from the locals in the community, it wouldn’t take long for the Little Birch Pantry to run out of supplies. The clock was
ticking.

“We realized the jam they were in and that they needed time to come up with options on getting food in while the truck was down,” Heath says. “After a quick conversation with the admin team, we decided that we would take our big box truck to them packed full of food to help them through their down time.”

The outreach team assembled a variety of food supplies that would best accommodate the needs of the pantry. The following was assembled:
(2) skids of dry goods
(1) skid of beverages
(1) skid of can food
(2) skids of frozen food items
(1) skid of dairy products and fresh produce

The next day the truck headed up I-79 to deliver the supplies to the pantry.

“Most of these rural food pantries struggle with supplies, funding, and equipment just like we do,” Heath says. “Being so rural, however, makes it difficult to come up with options quickly. Reshuffling our trucking schedule and pulling additional food from our supplies can be tricky at times, but if we can help another organization in a tough situation, then it is worth it.”

Clearly, we would not have the means to support the Little Birch Food Pantry and other pantries like it across the state without the generosity of you, our donors. Your financial support allows us to purchase food, have mechanically sound vehicles, and be able to put fuel in the tanks so that hurting people throughout West Virginia can have access to food and other basic necessities. Thank you so much for your continued support.