The story of the food bank at Fairview

By Ashley Brinegar

A little over two years ago, I brought a food bank project to the church board at Fairview Church of the Brethren in Unionville, Iowa. I volunteer in the community and felt there was a great need in our rural area. I was able to look into a partnership with the Iowa Food Bank. After a state inspection and a required nutrition class, I was able to fulfill this calling, but needed to rely solely on donations.

I had no idea how long God would help fulfill the need here. I also felt that when the money was out and I had no funding, that would be God saying that we have served our purpose. The first few times I ordered, organized, and had help, we filled 100 packages of food. This was a huge task, but we did it!

Money was low after the first few months, so I felt led to do a bake sale at our local market. Not many were stopping by our booth. So, me being me, I loaded a tray and went out among the other booths telling them what I was trying to do in our community and how it ran on donations alone. We ended up selling everything and making $900.

For the majority of the last couple of years, we haven’t had to worry about funds. With the help of the Northern Plains District’s Jesus in the Neighborhood grant and other donations, we have made it. But with inflation, I do worry that we will run out of money at some point.

Each month, we fill 72 packages of food, 22 of which members of our congregation deliver to elderly shut-ins. Another 50 packages are picked up by community members in need. Many of these people are elderly but they range in age. Last month, we fed 120 individuals and 74 families. (We ran out of packaged boxes and made up 2 more using the few extra items we had on hand.) The total cost for this is around $400 per month.