Christmas Breakfast set before food pantry Dec. 13 at New Life

New Life Baptist Church Pastor Scott Kallem (left), church food pantry volunteers Marilynn Sturgeon, Kathy VanLandingham, Joy Rader and Walmart Distribution’s Kelly Mees-Perkins get together to plan for the Dec. 13 Christmas Breakfast for community residents at New Life Baptist, 51 Ridgeway St., Greencastle. The breakfast is scheduled for 9:30-11:30 a.m. prior to the weekly Thursday food pantry giveaway.

Banner Graphic/Eric Bernsee

The food pantry at New Life Baptist Church has been supplying local residents with faith, hope and ingredients for a few good meals each Thursday.

On Dec. 13, the Greencastle church mission will be cooking for them, too.

In fact, everyone is invited to the Christmas Breakfast at the church, 51 Ridgeway St.

The church is hoping to see more ”people who would really benefit from being introduced to the food pantry,” New Life Pastor Scott Kallem said, noting that Thursday, Dec. 13 is also a food pantry day as well when those in need can obtain bread and canned goods, meats, desserts and more at the site.

But it will be the lure of a hot breakfast that morning that will likely bring to the church more than 100 like last year’s breakfast. A typical food pantry day sees 45 visitors to New Life Baptist.

Volunteer Joy Rader said the Christmas Breakfast idea began in 2010 or 2011 and has grown each year.

It’s Walmart that makes it a success, not only providing the breakfast grub but bringing 20-30 volunteers to help do the prep work and supplying extras, including gifts and even a disc jockey for entertainment.

With Walmart supplying the breakfast, the only things the church provides now, Kathy VanLandingham said, are “paper products, drinks and the place.”

The people really enjoy the program, the volunteers said, relating the story of one woman who won a doll during one of the games and was seen proudly walking around just clutching it to her chest, thankful that having won it she had something to give her granddaughter for Christmas.

“She was so happy,” Marilynn Sturgeon said.

“It’s a rewarding experience,” Kelly Mees-Perkins of Walmart said, noting that many of her volunteers come in on their day off to assist with the program.

Pastor Kallem said the people who attend the breakfast event like to introduce their families to the volunteers they see every week at the food pantry.

“We see grandma and grandpa,” he said. “We get to know a bit of their extended family.”

And it’s been good for the volunteers, too, VanLandingham said.

“It’s wonderful for the home school families we have here to learn how to serve,” she said. “It’s a big blessing. The patrons start asking us about it in October.”

Rader explained that the breakfast really just started out as the ladies of the church making breakfast items to offer something special during the holiday season.

“A few years later, Walmart came on board and took it to a whole new level,” Rader said. “It’s not just for the families at the food pantry. It’s a blessing.”