| Meeting
the Needs: Program hope to offer much to community
By JOSHUA
COFFMAN
Landmark News Service
The Rev. Josh Hammonds of Camby Tabernacle
approached church member Sully Runyon about seven months ago,
asking him to run the church’s food bank.
Runyon decided to consult with his Lord about the prospect.
“I don’t do anything until I pray about it,”
he said.
And once he did so, “I woke up one morning with the words
‘meeting the needs’ in my heart,” he said.
Runyon then decided to expand the food bank into a broader mission,
offering clothing and appliances for those in need, as well as
other programs. Called Meeting the Needs, it would answer to Runyon’s
philosophy of a Christian’s work being done outside of the
church.
“And we are to meet those needs as much as possible,”
he said.
Ed and John Ashcroft donated 2,000 feet of warehouse space, located
in the old printing plant of The News-Herald at the end of Blanton
Street, rent-and-utility free, and volunteers from several different
churches helped build walls and do other construction work on
the building in January.
Meeting the Needs will officially open on Feb. 1. Runyon and Kitty
Cammack, who will assist in running the program, have reached
out to local churches to help with donations and financial support.
The goal: “Using all the churches to work together to help
Owen County,” Runyon said. “We have many aspects —
the food pantry, the baby ministry, the clothing, of course,”
he said. “Everything is free. … It belongs to the
people in need. There’s no charge for anything we do.”
Meeting the Needs will also offer several outreach programs. Among
them are Adopt a Granny or Gramps, in which volunteers will assist
the elderly, and Helping Hands, in which volunteers handy with
skilled trades will help with repairs around the house.
It’s for “people who can’t do it themselves,”
Cammack said, “people who aren’t able to do it.”
Meeting the Needs will also offer a baby ministry, targeting young
mothers, and offer family support for the REACH program.
The First Baptist Church’s Samaritans’ Pantry, a food
drive initiated by the church six years ago, will merge with the
food bank operated by Meeting the Needs.
Runyon began collecting goods in his basement soon after taking
over the Camby Tabernacle program. He said he is fortunate for
the warehouse space donated by the Ashcrofts.
“Ed learned of the need, and he is a good Christian man
with a good Christian heart,” Runyon said. “He wanted
to help and had the means and the ability to do so.”
Starting Feb. 1, Meeting the Needs will be open on Mondays, Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Fridays, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8
p.m. It will be closed on Wednesdays.
Despite the listed operating hours, Runyon said he considers himself
on the job around the clock.
He said, if a person needs help at 2 a.m., “then I will
be here.”
While Runyon’s devotion to the project may be non-stop,
he refuses to take credit for the results.
“The one who runs this pantry is our God,” he said.
“It’s not about Kitty or myself.”
Meeting the Needs is still in need of working washers, driers,
stoves, microwaves and refrigerators, Runyon said. The group also
needs a box truck and walk-in cooler.
Churches wanting to donate or help can contact Cammack or Runyon.
Meeting the Needs’ phone number is 484-1225, or e-mail can
be sent to meetingtheneeds@gmail.com.
A Web site, meetingtheneeds.com, is being built.
And, although the project is faith-based, Cammack and Runyon said
they would welcome help from people not affiliated with a church.
“If they have a loving, caring heart they’re welcome
to join us,” Runyon said.
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