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Community Corner

Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry, Powered by Prayers

Cooperative Ministry is helping those in need through hardships with food, clothing and faith.

She looked at the empty food pantry shelves and realized the mission of the could not be done. The mission of feeding those in need would be impossible without food. So she and a pantry volunteer did the only thing they could---they prayed.

“I said Lord you see these shelves and we are here to feed your people. And we need food. As soon as we said Amen there was a knock on the front door. I answered the front door and there was a church that had gotten lost with 500 cans of food coming through the door. Then there was a knock on the back door and there was the Boy Scouts with 1,500 cans of food. So within twenty minutes of praying for food we had over 2,000 cans. That was nine years ago and we have not been without food since that night,” said Linda Freund, Director of Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry, Inc. Starting at the co-op as a volunteer in 1996, Freund has served as director for ten years.

In December of 1995, the Cooperative Ministry started with a simple premise. Instead of each participating church setting up and managing their own food pantry, they should combine efforts to enable centralized distribution and assistance. This strategy also eliminated duplication of services provided by local area churches.     

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Last year with a roster of 65 sponsoring churches in Lawrenceville and Dacula, the Cooperative Ministry took in 259,292 cans of food. Financial donations received from those churches totaled $196,892. Over 400 church volunteers gave 15,428 hours to help those in need.

Sponsoring churches include the Cooperative Ministry into their annual budgets. Each month sponsoring churches donate $100 of financial assistance to the co-op. Freund said ninety three cents of every dollar collected goes directly to assisting those in need.

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“We are continuously putting the need for food for the co-op before our congregation. About every two weeks we will send around 200 items to the co-op. Last month they had a special need for certain items, so we had a drive and sent 600 of those special need items to them,” said Ray Crabtree, Associate Pastor of .

In addition to food and money, First Baptist also provides clothing to co-op’s visitors. For those needing clothes, they can go to Cooperative Ministry and receive a clothing voucher. They then take the voucher to First Baptist to redeem for one bag of clothes per month. For new items of clothing the church will charge fifty cents to a dollar.

On average, during its first year the co-op would help 30 families a month. But due to economic hardships affecting those from all walks of life, Cooperative Ministry now assists more than 1,000 families every month. Families and individuals can receive a week’s worth of can and boxed foods every 30 days.

The co-op uses a formula based on number of people in the family to determine the quantity of food to be given. The co-op allows its visitors to choose the food items that they will receive from a prepared list. The co-op does require visitors to show picture identification and proof of Lawrenceville residence.       

“I’ve been coming here for about a year now. I am disabled and my wife has lost her job," said Burt Kelly during a recent visit to the pantry. "This place is a Godsend. They also give food to the soul by praying with you.” 

Cooperative Ministry also provides limited monetary assistance by giving a hundred dollars toward utility payments. If this service is required, the person requesting this assistance must first pay the amount over $100. Then they must bring the receipt showing an outstanding balance of $100 or more to the Cooperative Ministry.

In the month of February, of this year, Cooperative Ministry disbursed over $43,000 in $100 increments; making February a record month. These funds, in addition to utility payments, were also used to buy prescription medication and housing. The ministry will pay for a one week stay in selected hotel for homeless families. Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry does not assist with housing or housing payments beyond the one week of hotel stay.

For needs that cannot be met or for those that are outside of their service area, Cooperative Ministry will make referrals. Mainly these referrals are made to the number (770) 995-3339.      

“I took this job because of a prayer that asks that my territory be enlarged… I took that to mean serving all of Lawrenceville. And the prayer also says ‘your hand will be with me’. I know this is my calling. But I also know that this is something that is bigger than me. It is about the Lord providing our needs,” said Freund.   

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