ROCKINGHAM — The Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church cut its Sunday services to two a month starting with the new year to support the We Care Food Center, the church’s program to offer fresh produce and meats to those in need through the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

Dr. T.R. Harrington, CEO of the Food Center and pastor at the church, said he was forced to make the change because of falling membership combined with rising demand for food over the last several years. He said in the last four or five years, the center has increased its food stock from 2,000 pounds per month to about 4,000 to keep up with demand.

In order to store that much perishable food, Harrington maintains five freezers and three refrigerators at the center, which he said creates over-head costs that he now struggles to pay. The center prepares to serve over 100 families every week, according to Harrington.

“Our thing is to not see anybody in Richmond County go hungry,” Harrington said as a line formed down the street for the food. He added that the same applies to those from outside the county. “A stomach don’t know when it crossed the county line.”

The church will only hold services on the first and third Sundays until March, Harrington said. This will allow the church and Food Center to save enough money to operate in the short term, but to continue into the long term — it started in the 1980s — the church will need financial help from the public. Harrington is asking for donations of whatever the residents are able to give to sustain the church and center.

To make a contribution, contact Harrington at 910-419-4271. For more information on the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, visit foodbankcenc.org.

“It’s a Godsend that’s for sure,” said Joe Oliver of Rockingham as he picked up a box of food Thursday. “If it wasn’t for them here I’d go homeless.”

The Food Center gives out food every Thursday at noon and is located at 328 Airport Road, which is on the corner where the road intersects with Patterson Street. Residents are given boxes that include canned, meat, produce and dairy.

The center delivers food to those who are unable to make the trip on their own. Tom Melton, food resources coordinator with the Food Bank, said the center is one of the ways the Food Bank addresses the “last mile problem,” which refers to the difficulty those with disabilities have making it to resources that could help them.

The boxes are prepared by what Harrington called a “vicious assembly line” of volunteers from the church and community. Currently, the center’s food consists of leftover food contributed by FEMA following the hurricane along with the typical food stock sourced from the Food Bank’s warehouse in Southern Pines.

Paulette Ingram, coordinator for the Food Center said she’s been volunteering since the 1980s when she started alongside her mother, Nancy Harrington, who was in her 90s at the time and volunteered until she died.

“I love serving the people,” Ingram said.

Hoffman Mayor Tommy Hart, who is pastor of Flectcher’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Hoffman and St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Wagram, called the center’s work “wonderful.”

“There are a lot of stomachs in need,” Hart said.

Levon Davis of Rockingham was among those in line for a box of food Thursday.

“It’s a big help to the people in the neighborhood,” Davis said. “I’m glad they’re here.”

Gavin Stone | Daily Journal Paulette Ingram and other volunteers fill boxes of food at the We Care Food Center on Thursday.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_IMG_7012-1.jpgGavin Stone | Daily Journal Paulette Ingram and other volunteers fill boxes of food at the We Care Food Center on Thursday.

Gavin Stone | Daily Journal A line of cars waits for food from the We Care Food Center on Thursday. See story on page 1A.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_IMG_6985-1.jpgGavin Stone | Daily Journal A line of cars waits for food from the We Care Food Center on Thursday. See story on page 1A.

Gavin Stone | Daily Journal Woodrow Wilson Brown loads a box of food into Levon Davis’ car on Thursday at the We Care Food Center.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_IMG_6992-1.jpgGavin Stone | Daily Journal Woodrow Wilson Brown loads a box of food into Levon Davis’ car on Thursday at the We Care Food Center.

By Gavin Stone

Staff Writer

Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2674 or [email protected].