RICHMOND — A crowd gathers on Saturdays before the doors open at 10 a.m., eagerly anticipating what will be found on the tables and racks inside. Some waiting outside will immediately head for the clothing department. Others are hopeful to find a set of bed linens or a kitchenware item. Some are there to receive a bag of groceries.
This scene is not taking place at a shopping mall or an outlet center. There’s no doorbuster sale. Those waiting in line don’t have money in their pockets to purchase the items they need. They’re standing at the door at Northminster Baptist Church in Richmond for its Saturday Free Market and community food pantry and cash or credit cards are not required.
A shopper at checks out clothing at the Saturday Free Market. |
Most Saturdays between 300-400 people pass through the church, some come in cars and others on foot. They are welcomed by members and volunteers with smiling faces, warm hearts and a passion to not only meet their physical needs but their spiritual needs, as well.
While waiting for the doors to open, volunteers serve pastries and hot coffee. The pastries have been donated by a local restaurant and volunteers have picked them up at closing the night before. “This is a wonderful opportunity to begin conversations and cultivate relationships with those waiting,” says Jeannie Murdock, coordinator of the food pantry.
As the doors open, the line can become long as people register. Each must have an income level that qualities them for food assistance and must show that they reside in the two zip codes surrounding the church. Then they receive a bag of groceries — one day’s supply of food for a family.
Brown paper grocery bags that have been packed by volunteers line the kitchen area, each filled with canned fruits and vegetables, soups, dry milk, a box of breakfast cereal, pasta or rice, bread, and a roll of toilet paper. On the morning I was there, each family received a package of frozen chicken as they retrieved their bag of groceries.
In the spring members and volunteers planted a community garden in the courtyard of the church and now to the delight of each recipient each bag contains a special treat — fresh vegetables. This is the first year a garden has been planted. With the wet weather of last spring, when the ground was broken it was muddy and not too impressive. But as volunteers have continually weeded, sprayed, watered, prayed and harvested, the ripe produce has become so abundant that they wonder if there will be vegetables left over. But every Saturday, the entire week’s harvest is taken.
As summer vegetables fade, there are plans to plant cabbage, kale and turnip greens for the fall. Kyle and April Kennedy, coordinators of the garden, have seen God provide a bountiful crop of vegetables this year, harvested with God’s love by each person involved.
The Saturday Free Market at Northminster will soon celebrate its first anniversary. It got started when Terry Smith and Cassie Matthew brought some extra t-shirts to give away at the food pantry one Saturday. They were amazed at the response and wanted to do more. The two women had a friend who needed help cleaning out her home. Terry, Cassie and several others helped get the home in order and the items the family no longer needed became the first Free Market.
Twenty churches are now involved in the ministry of the Free Market. Gently-used goods have been received from local churches as well as those from as far away as Norfolk and Maryland. Businesses donate to the market. A local hotel provides bed linens and blow dryers that it no longer needs.
A bag of vegetables grown in the community garden that have just been picked for the food pantry.
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J.T. and Cassie Matthew are members of New Hanover Presbyterian Church and Cassie devotes many hours collecting items for the market. New Hanover Church has a trailer it keeps on its premises to fill with goods for the Saturday market. She works many hours behind the scenes with other volunteers who sort donations and place them in the appropriate rooms. Clothing is placed on hangers, sorted by size and placed on large racks.
If those coming to the Free Market have a special need for an item they can’t find, they can write a request and post it on a bulletin board. A “Free Market Update” email is sent to interested persons and these needs are listed. Two of the items requested on a recent email were a pair of men’s swimming trunks and a window fan.
J.T. Matthew says the market is like a modern day story of Jesus multiplying the bread and fish to feed a multitude of people. Each week hundreds of people leave with items that will help them as they struggle to make ends meet. Yet as much as goes out seems to come back in.
“There are so many amazing stories of how God has worked through this ministry,” says Kennedy. “The biggest impact has been the growth of relationships between the volunteers and those we are serving.”
A young woman named April shared her story with volunteers one Saturday. She needed a job but had no transportation. Through the efforts of those at Northminster, April was taught to drive and a car was donated for her. Members helped her develop interview skills and she now has a job with an insurance agency and still comes to the church on Saturdays — not in need of help, but volunteering to help others.
“Jesus said, ‘Freely, freely you have received, freely, freely give. Go in My name and because you believe, Others will know that I live.’ ” The words from this familiar hymn can be witnessed by the hope and joy on the many faces at Northminster on Saturday mornings — on the faces of both the givers and the receivers.