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Grocery giveaway grows at New Life Church
Coordinator Barbara Pitt hustled about New Life Baptist Church in Greencastle Wednesday morning.
Surrounded by families snacking on plates of scrambled eggs and baked goods or sipping on coffee, they waited for their numbers to be drawn for a bag of groceries, all provided free of charge by local businesses and community members.
Pitt and the other volunteers chatted happily while replenishing grocery items as part of the New Life Baptist Church's annual Christmas Party event.
What originally began as just coffee and donuts four years ago, has grown in size each year.
"It's just gotten bigger and bigger," Pitt said.
The church serves warm breakfast and coffee to citizens while they wait for packages of groceries to take home with them, according to a numbers handed to each family as they entered the church.
Numbers are chosen at random until all numbers have been called and every family has received a gift of groceries.
In the meantime, people are able to enjoy breakfast, listen to Christmas music played by a live DJ and participate in a raffle to win everything from toys to Christmas trees.
The event is run entirely by volunteers and donations from local businesses and community members.
"We're just a group of people that helps," Pitt explained humbly.
Food is provided by donations to the church, Walmart, Kroger and the Midwest Food Bank (MFB) of Indianapolis.
Kroger donates regularly to the church's food pantry each week, providing bread and desserts while the Midwest Food Bank and Walmart provide food for the grocery giveaway.
Walmart also provides toys, Christmas trees other items which are raffled during the event.
In all, the team of volunteers served breakfast to at least 75 people and gave grocery packages to around 65 families at this year's event.