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DAWSON — The Raines Baptist Church food pantry, housed in a 200-year-old historic home here, received a grant from Food Lion Feeds to renovate a room for its services. The church hosted its first mobile food drive since the update on Wednesday.

The renovation replaced floors warped with time, put fresh paint on the walls and added refrigerator storage and cabinet space in a 225-square-foot room at the back of the house. The room also contains new stainless steel work tables and an oven.

Pastor Raymond Andrews said Raines Baptist Church was unable to store donated food before the renovation.

“Now when a family is in need, we will have space to have food for them,” he said. “Food Lion provided the grant, and we refurbished the place. It’s an old house, but we’re having fun.”

Food Lion Feeds, a program through Food Lion to combat hunger in communities, announced in September that Raines was a recipient of its Great Pantry Makeover Grant. The grocer reached Raines through the church’s partnership with Feeding the Valley, a member of the Feeding America food bank network.

Food Lion Regional Director of Operations for South Georgia Jason Conoly said the program has renovated pantries throughout its operating area for about nine years. Terrell County deals with food insecurity and has a strong need for effective food drive and pantry services, he said.

“While we don’t have a physical presence in Dawson, Albany is certainly close, and we want to make sure we’re taking care of our surrounding communities,” Conoly said.

Conoly said he doesn’t often see buildings like the historic house being used by Raines as a pantry. The two-story home is used as classrooms for the congregation. Since COVID, its old, wood rooms are filled with furniture, sanitary products and other items to be donated to those in need

About 50 volunteers from Raines Baptist, Feeding the Valley Food Bank, Food Lion, Terrell County’s Fire Department and the community worked the Wednesday food drive.

The operation ran like a machine. Not one volunteer sat idle or with empty hands. They bagged and boxed groceries, moving quickly in and out of the house and along the front yard, where stations were set up to serve people.

Cars had been wrapped around the street waiting for the drive to start since 7:30 Wednesday morning. Those without cars lugged suitcases and carts behind them to hold the food.

Andrews said Raines Baptist Church has operated the food drive for about five years. The church and the house sit across from the housing authority, putting the church’s congregation face to face with the need for the service.

The pastor said he wants the church to have an impact on the community.

“We say if your church closed down today, would the community miss it?” Andrews said. “If we closed down today, would all these folks miss us? My answer is emphatically yes.”

Before partnering with Feeding the Valley in 2022, the church’s congregation funded the food drive, he said.

“Feeding the Valley’s been giving us muscle for about two years now,” Andrews said. “It’s taken a lot of weight off our congregation.”

The church serves anywhere from 250 to 450 households at each drive. Andrews said they operate bimonthly on a regular basis. It’s normal for cars to be lined up hours before the drive begins. The line spans several blocks, and the volunteers serve as many as they can.

“It’s grown to where we run out of food,” he said. “We have to turn some people away. I hate that part.”

The pastor leads the event with his wife, Sharon Andrews. They wear clothing that designates them as “pastor” and “first lady,” and fire off commands to volunteers with smiles on their faces.

Once the clock hit 11 a.m., Andrews gathered volunteers on the lawn in front of the old house for prayer. They bowed their heads and thanked God for blessing the church. They separated with applause, moving to different stations. Some would operate the fresh produce and meat stand, some were at the dry foods stand, and others remained on the porch to fill new boxes and pass them along to the stations.

“You ready?” Andrews asked his wife from across the lawn.

“Ready,” she said.

“Let the show begin,” Andrews said to the volunteers. “Whatever you do, don’t let them see you sweat.”

The food drive’s first customer was in an electric wheelchair. Andrews offered to deliver his box to him, but the man waved him off. He tucked a box filled with food between his legs.

Margaret Moore was third in line. She’d sat in her car waiting for about three hours. She brought a book to read to pass the time. The 71-year-old Dawson resident is her mother’s caretaker. Moore said her mother is 91 years old and has a disability, and she is unable to cook her own meals.

She said most of Dawson and Terrell County is like a food desert. Without the food drive, Moore has to travel to Dougherty County to access a variety of affordable groceries.

Moore said she likes the Raines Baptist food drives because the food items are packaged neatly, contain nutritious options and she doesn’t have to leave the car to get them. The box of food lasts her and her mother about a month and a half, she said.

As a senior, she faces financial struggles, she said.

“It’s the cost we have to pay for aging … with health insurance, the cost of food,” Andrews said.

This is a common story, Darleen Frokjer, Feeding the Valley’s community outreach manager, said. Many of the people Feeding the Valley help are aging seniors.

“They are on fixed incomes and right now with the economy, it’s very hard to stretch that income,” she said.

Frokjer said Feeding the Valley is grateful for the partnership with Raines because Dawson and Terrell County have many underserved communities. Since 2022, the food bank has provided more than 71,000 meals to families in the county.

The Food Lion Feeds grant allows the pantry to serve families facing hunger more efficiently, as volunteers now have a more functional and safer workspace, she said.

Meanwhile, the pastor talks and laughs with the people in each individual car. He said he enjoys the work more than anything.

“That’s the heartbeat of this ministry,” Andrews said. “If you lack, we’ve got the resources, and we want to bless you.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan