At last week’s Golden Apple Awards Dinner at the San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB), the Coker Food Pantry won the top award, Food Pantry of the Year! We are honored to be recognized amongst our peers. There are 530 food pantries across 16 counties that are all supported by the SAFB and are all worthy to be recognized, we humbly thank the San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB) for naming Coker as the Food Pantry of the Year.
In 2017- your donations, prayers, and volunteer hours allowed Coker’s Food Pantry to serve 3,794 families, 16,766 people (about 1400 per month), and 2,120 Seniors. Volunteers dedicated 4,635 hours of time.
Sharon Ford, Director, Coker Health and Wellness Center, shares: “This award is a reflection of the work of everyone who volunteered or supported the ministries of the entire Health and Wellness Ministry. All of our programs were included. We would like to thank you all for your volunteer hours and heart for the ministry so many of you: Distribute food, pick up the food from the SAFB, pick up food at Wild Fish, Chester’s and Longhorn Steakhouse, sort the food, pack the food, personally carry out the food, organize supplies, distribute the backpacks annually, conduct the Angel Tree Christmas toy project, participate in the Jubilee Free Sale. We also thank those who work in the Clothing Closet, work on our Children’s Library, schedule all of the volunteers and those who are now working on our two new food programs for Seniors: Commodities Supplemental Food Program and Project Hope.
The nomination included all of the thoughtfulness the people of Coker have demonstrated towards our clients: giving them rides to the bus stop, taking them home, renting them motel rooms on freezing nights, taking them to the hospital or doctor’s appointments, buying them gasoline, delivering food to their homes when they were too sick to come get it, giving them financial aid from the pastors through the Pastor’s Benevolence Fund and the entire congregation and Building Committee for supporting the Health and Wellness Ministry. The SAFB was especially impressed that our congregation went the extra mile to build such a wonderful new facility where we, through our Wesley Nurse, schedule health education programs, nutrition programs, cooking demonstrations, and health screenings. Including our clients in programs of the church such as Mid-Week Manna, Easter Egg Scramble, Harvest Celebration, Bible Study, Spanish Worship, Sunday School, etc. which brought us to the top.
Those of us who work in the Health and Wellness Center would sincerely like to thank everyone who made this award possible for Coker UMC.”
We stand in amazement and Praise God for instilling a vision and putting hearts and people into action to be the hands and feet of Christ. Thank you to the San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB) for the support and recognition.
