Food Pantry

Food Pantry -Friday Evening 5:00pm

The food pantry and soup kitchen are local church
outreach ministries to those in need in our community.

If you wish to donate food we are in need of:
-Canned Vegetables
-Canned Sauce
Leave the food in the bucket in the church entry way.
Any questions contact Dennis at dennis@cciog.org

Back in 1990 Pastor Kevin and Norman (Elder) would go out and purchase 2-3 bags of assorted food items to give out to people in need.

Twenty years later, 2009 to be more exact, we reached out to more than 12,000 people.  This includes adults, children, seniors and at least 5 churches who look for our support.  In 2009, Thanksgiving was Calvary Chapels largest outreach.  Over 2,800 meals were prepared, given out to 7 churches and from 12 to 2 pm we had a sit down dinner of 125-150 people.  We also delivered to shut-in.  The delivered meals consisted of turkey, stuffing, 2 sides, cranberry sauce, dinner roll, juice and dessert.  All of this, also, went to all 7 churches.

December 2009 we had a Christmas outreach.  This is a dinner and toys are given out during the course of the evening.
Children are from our Food Pantry/Soup Kitchen and also from Toys 4 Tots, local area for the children, parents call them and give them our number for toys for their children.

What happens during the remainder of the year??   Weekly we continue to serve groceries to those in need.  We feed them both physically and Spiritually.  We serve a hot meal after they are given groceries and a short devotional is presented to them with a time of prayer.

Friday nights from 5 to 7, we have volunteers giving food out at the pantry, others cooking the meal, others mingle with time to give loving support, ministers and those with a heart to share, give the Word with a devotional, others clean up and still others drive the church van to pick up people and drop them home again.  This is a job of many, with an average of 20 volunteers per week.

And it doesn’t start really at 5…it starts right after it’s finished.  Weekly we go to Long Island Cares and pick up appx 90% of the food needed to supply the Food Pantry and part of it is also for the Soup Kitchen.  Most of this food is under the State and Federal allocation program.  This means less money coming out of church budget.  There are times that we pick up food from Landmark Food Co-Op.  At discounted price we are able to receive food for our church body needs.  Four days out of the week we pick up bagels, breads and pastry from bakeries and bagel stores.  We pick up bundles of bread from one bakery in Kings Park once per week.  They also support us often during most holidays.  We also receive assorted bread & rolls fro Pepperidge Farms Breads.  And a load of fresh organic vegetables from Hobbs Farms,  when available. (Late spring to early fall)

We don’t want to forget the food drives that come from the Boy Scouts of America and Adecco Corp.  The Meat Cutters Union supplies Calvary with Easter baskets filled and wrapped, toys for Christmas and at least 40 turkeys and 20 cases of canned goods for Thanksgiving.  Estee Lauder reaches deep within and has at least 2 food drives for us, toys for Christmas, school supplies, clothing and coat drives.

The outreach continues to Boces Culinary School in Oakdale.  They supply us with assorted cakes, pies and cookies for the holidays.  With cut backs from the government, we have had to supply  the fruit, flour and sugar for these delicious goodies to come to us, but well worth it. They learn to bake and Calvary Chapel receives the sweet blessings of their labor.  Just down the street from Boces we pick up all the dinner rolls that are donated to us for our Thanksgiving Dinner.  Hot out of the oven, Modern Bakery donates appx 2000 small dinner rolls for all the meals that are given out that Thursday.

Of course, we also receive donations through out the year from our fellow brothers and sisters here at church with a open hand when things like vegetables become a real necessity.   Let’s not forget our dear brother, Tony, who will drive to Costco and pick up assorted baked good and toiletries and furniture when available.  We  receive baked goods from Claudine from super markets.

From time to time we give out household items such as small appliances, or a piece of furniture.  We have volunteers make peanut butter sandwiches to give to churches to hand out to the homeless in their area or for those to take home to enjoy later.

This we do gladly…All for the glory of God.  He makes all this possible.  As we take in, we give out.  God always has supplied our every need.  We thank God for giving us His unlimited resources.

Today, people are more fearful than ever, we at Calvary Chapel want to be the light in this dark world, giving food for the body and life to their souls, though Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.