Thanksgiving Blessings at Soddy-Daisy Food Bank

The woman came to Soddy-Daisy Food Bank when she "fell on hard times," says organizer Gene Elliot. "We gave her food a number of times." That's what the food bank does every Thursday, anyway, for more than 100 families.

MONTHS LATER, the woman won some sort of financial settlement. "I don't know what it was. I didn't ask any questions," says Elliot. But he did protest, initially, when she gave him two $500 checks. She wanted the money to be used to buy meat for the foodbank families during the holidays.

"I tried to talk her out of it. I told her it wasn't necessary," says Elliot. But she was adamant, and she won.

Soddy-Daisy Food Bank, a ministry of Soddy UMC and Daisy UMC in the Cleveland District, fed 3,487 individuals from Jan. 1 through Oct. 31 of this year. During the week before Thanksgiving, 240 families will receive baking hens at the food bank, through the generosity of the woman in Elliot's story.

Both churches contribute funds and volunteers to the food bank, but contributions from individuals and other church and community groups do enormous good, Elliot says.

The number of cars lining up every Thursday morning is higher these days, he says. On a recent Thursday in October, the food bank broke a record by distributing 113 boxes of food. More people might be struggling financially because of rising heating bills and gasoline prices, Elliot surmises. When they do, Soddy-Daisy Food Bank will be there.

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