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Wirt County community provides food for children

By Candice Black 3 min read

ELIZABETH -- Wirt County FFA students came to Elizabeth Baptist Church on Friday to put together meals to go bags to help kids have food during Christmas break.

Meals to go is a yearly tradition for the Wirt County area; it was a community wide effort that involved help from the Parkersburg community as well.

According to Jessica Full, church member, the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation awarded a grant for $2,000 and the American Baptist Home Missions Society provided $4,000. Their yearly operating budget is $4,000, Full said, but the leftover funds will be used for next year.

"We actually do this three times a year, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break; that money helps all of those,' Full said.

The food was purchased through the Mountaineer Food Bank at a discounted rate. Full said Flowers Baking Company in Parkersburg offered a good deal on bread.

Quick, easy meals and snacks were passed out along with milk. There were no income restrictions; anyone was able to sign up.

Brent Stewart, assistant youth leader, said there's a lot of kids in the area who need the meals. The program was recently taken over by the church after the previous woman in charge retired.

"We've been involved with kids for a good while and when we've helped with the meals to go. A couple of the gals said this would be the last one because the lady who was getting the grants was retiring; the church has been very supportive," Stewart said.

Before the funding came into place, the church sponsored the first meal, providing around $1,500, Stewart said.

"We've been very fortunate and God has blessed in a way that it's been funded ever since," he said.

The program goes along with the church's initiatives, Stewart said.

"That project kind of fell in more with what we were already doing; we have a youth group and we always feed them meals," he said.

Full said other organizations and churches meet to trade ideas for events and programs like meals to go.

"It's really nice to get ideas from other like minded organizations," she said. "You can tell they're really interested in helping kids."

Sometimes other organizations will hear about the event and donate whatever items they have to give away.

"It turns into more than food," Full said.

Community involvement is always in full supply around the county.

"A lot of times the parents pick up the food and ask how they can help," Full said. "Everybody is interested in getting all the kids fed. They're always really thankful to have a little help and I think we've all been in a situation where we could use some help."

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