Cedar Grove UMC in Chatham County, has been providing several food ministries to their neighbors in “Frosty” (the area of the county where they live and serve) since March 2020.
Those ministries include a “front porch panty” where three days a week they pick up and share produce and shelf-stable food on the porch of the fellowship hall. Families from the community stop by anytime to pick up items to help address their needs. This ministry has allowed the congregation to connect with many neighbors who volunteer their time weekly to help stock and maintain the “porch pantry”.
Given the small size of Cedar Grove UMC (currently averaging
about 12 in attendance per Sunday), this ministry has been a strong witness to what a few committed people (both members of the church and volunteers) can do to address hunger in a local setting.
Cedar Grove UMC also sponsors a monthly “pay what you can” food truck night with a local Hispanic owned business, Ta Contento. Each month Ta Contento sets up in the church parking lot and families in the community stop by to receive a fresh hot meal. The policy is that Cedar Grove will pay for any meals that the folks who stop by can not afford. Usually there are between 30 and 50 folks stopping by each month. It has been another way this
little rural church has been able to connect and serve the community.
In January 2021, the local newspaper wrote a very nice article about their outreach. Here’s the link to the report:
https://chathamnewsrecord.com/stories/pay-what-you-can-pittsboro-church-supports-the-
community-with-subsidized-meals-front-porch-food,7881
The Conference Mission Team was happy to grant Cedar Grove the 2022 Key Taylor Award. The award came with an endowment check for $1,856.00, which will be used to strengthen the ministry.
