Two local churches work up an appetite to serve

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa – Recent economic conditions in Lawrence County have led to a growing number of families experiencing hunger regularly and a lack of staple foods. That is a situation hard to imagine at any time of the year, let alone in November, the month of turkey, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Fortunately, one local church has combined forces with the New Castle Bread Basket, a service program created by members of Epworth United Methodist, to continue helping local families in need.

 Pastor John Bailey of New Life Baptist, in New Wilmington, heard about the Bread Basket possibly going under for lack of help and leadership. He invited a fellow church member, Alice Garcia, to his home for dinner, and afterwards asked her to tackle the project of feeding others. She did so with a smile, many years of ministry experience to her credit, and a team of volunteers to get the heavy lifting done. Garcia says some restructuring of the program was her first step in getting it to run smoothly and efficiently. 

“When we stepped in to help I realized it was going to take us three to four days a month, and our church is such an active church that I knew I needed to get it more concise, I needed to get it down to a one day event.”  

Currently the Bread Basket opens its door on the third Saturday of each month, from 9 am to 11:30 am. The program is completing its second year under this new leadership.  Garcia says her records show a total of 6,800 families that have been serviced by the program this past year.  The Bread Basket works in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Area Food Bank and Feed America program.

The Bread Basket of New Castle from WCN 24/7 on VIMEO on Vimeo.