Columbus Community Benefit Committee hosts grocery drive-thru

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The Community Benefit Committee held a grocery drive-thru at State Line Baptist Church Saturday morning.

Church pastor Robert Gillis said this a great way to reach out to people in the area.

“We are sharing the love of Jesus with people through a medium of food. The Bible teaches us a person said I was hungry and you gave me meat so we want to be honoring our Lord Jesus Christ by sharing food,” said Gillis.

People in the community that need food have waited in line to get grocery bags full of canned goods and other items that are needed during this time.

Items in the bags have a variety of foods from cereal and eggs to potatoes and fruit.

“We’ve reached as many as 375 to 400 families, roughly in the three counties, around a thousand people,” said Gillis.

Church deacon Bill Blackmon said this has been able to happen because of one special donor.

“We do this through the Mississippi Food Network which is our sponsor. We buy the food from them at a low cost and then we distribute it to whoever qualifies,” said Blackmon.

The church gives food away every 3rd Saturday.

“It means a whole lot to us, I mean this is something that God has put on us to do, so we’re here to help the community and we want for whoever needs it to come get it,” said Blackmon.

Even though this a tough time — Gillis said the church is looking up.

“It’s an encouragement, were here to encourage people. There’s a lot of negative around but when they come here they get positive reinforcement. We’re just happy to share the love of Jesus,” said Gillis.