West Palm Beach congregation reaches out to neighbors in need

WEST PALM BEACH (FBC)—Hazel and Richard Bates are the first in line of nearly 200 cars snaking around the Northwood Baptist Church parking lot early one Saturday morning.

Having arrived at 7 a.m., the couple is waiting for food from a co-op “Share” program sponsored by the West Palm Beach church. For just $17, they will receive a huge box of fresh vegetables, meats and breads, frozen food and canned goods. A second box of free food is given as part of the church’s “Feed the Hungry” ministry.

The food will last them for a month, said Hazel, 86. “I’ve learned how to put in an extra cup of water to stretch it a little farther,” she said proudly. Anything not on their diets will be shared with neighbors. Nothing goes to waste, she added.

Until recently the Bates’ fixed income had been supplemented by her husband’s salary as a bagger at Publix Supermarket. But a recent surgery sapped some of the 85-year-old’s stamina resulting in decreased hours. So finances have become tighter, she explained.

“This church has been such a blessing to us,” said Hazel. “I think it’s a wonderful thing God has given to us.”

Once a month on a Saturday and Wednesday, the Northwood Church distributes food to 850 needy families in the church, the community and through other small mission congregations.

“Everyone thinks of Palm Beach County as where the rich play,” said Dan Shorter, who along with his wife, Jacquie, started and now coordinates the church’s “Feed the Hungry” ministry.

“There are a lot of rich people, but there are a lot of poor people. Nearly 37 percent of the families in Palm Beach County at some time will not know where their next meal will come from — single mothers with three or more kid who are unemployed or underemployed; senior citizens, many of them raising abandoned grandchildren.”

During Thanksgiving and Christmas the ministry “explodes,” working with 50 small churches scattered throughout the counties to provide food, toys and gifts for more than 4,000 families and their children. These sister churches — Haitian, Hispanic and African-American — are “embedded in the communities that are the poorest,” Shorter explained.

These churches “have no resources whatsoever, but we work through them to clearly identify the neediest, help register them and evaluate their needs,” observed Shorter.

This summer the church again will provide free lunches for community children. “These are children who normally receive free breakfast and lunches at school,” Shorter explained. “During the summer without school in session, they go hungry.”

The food, provided at no cost to the church by the federal government, “is a wonderful resource and available literally to any church. The government brings the food; you set up tables and chairs and feed the kids. You can talk to them about Jesus, if you want. You can sing songs. You can do crafts.”

By bringing the children to church, families are introduced and plugged into vacation Bible school and other activities. As a result of the church’s multi-faceted food ministry, Shorter sees hundreds of people make professions of faiths. “Early in my Christian life, I felt like I had to take a Bible and thump people upside the head to get them to listen to me about God. And it ain’t so.”

“The food ministry is a way in which we can make the Gospel come alive to so many people,” said Northwood Pastor Patrick Moody. “There are many in Palm Beach County that do not affiliate with any church, and this shows them that our faith is much more than words.”

The church assigned FAITH witnessing teams to go from car-to-car, as clients waited to pick up their boxes of food. “These teams are trained to discern the spiritual welfare and well being of the families,” explained the pastor. “By this means, we have had people come to the Lord and we have prayed with so many people. They are all very appreciative for what our church is doing for the community.”

Volunteers gather prayer requests from those in line and then place the needs on the church’s prayer list. Over and over again, the clients return to share how God had answer their prayers, Shorter noted.

Each month, the church receives $300 in hunger funds from Florida Baptists through the Hunger Awareness Offering administered by the Florida Baptist Convention.

While the Northwood ministry garners contributions from other sources, Shorter said, “The monthly gift from Florida Baptists is a consistent grant and sometimes the only money I have to buy food that day. God honors the commitment of the givers.”

Because of the confidential nature of the work, Shorter often see clients come to church and no one ever knows that there first contact was the food ministry. “There’s been a couple of times where the whole family will get saved,” recalled Shorter, “and we’re over there ‘high-fivin’ in the corner of the church because we know they came though the food program.”

Shorter, internet general manager for the Palm Beach Post, and his wife have time-consuming careers yet manage to carve out 20 hours each week to coordinate the food ministry. Holidays and vacation time is spent making it happen. “But we are sold out to this ministry, this is very important to us.

“Some things we think are priorities are not priorities. Do I really need to sit down and watch that third TV show tonight, or could I be doing something to feed somebody. That’s a pretty easy decision. My wife and I would rather feed somebody.”