After 10 years, COVID and a merger, this Prices Corner church is still feeding the hungry

The Greenbank Church of Christ’s drive-thru food pantry was bustling with activity on a recent Thursday evening, as the church carried on its 10-year tradition of providing free weekly meals to local families.

Community residents drove past the entrance of the pantry and exited the Prices Corner property with enough food to last their families through the end of the month.

“The pantry is a blessing,” said Senior Minister Domingo Reyes of the Greenbank Church. “People call us the best food pantry, but we’re not in competition with anybody. We just do it from the heart.”

Volunteers at the church gave away a variety of prepackaged perishable and nonperishable foods, including meats, bread, vegetables and pasta. As a partner of the Food Bank of Delaware, the items at the pantry all meet U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements.

Sue Maynard, a founder of the food pantry who handles orders for the program, said the supplies help families supplement the food that they don’t have at home.

The weekly pantry, located off 511 Greenbank Road, is held every Thursday, from 6 to 6:45 p.m. It has been in operation for almost a decade and has grown significantly over the years.

Maynard and her husband, Ed, have led the program since it was previously known as the Cedars Church of Christ’s food pantry. The name change to Greenbank is in reference to the merger of Cedars Church of Christ and First State Church of Christ.

Reyes previously ministered at First State Church. He said the two churches — one predominantly white and one predominantly Black — became one congregation in 2019.

“Cedars started it and the pantry is now a big part of our history,” Reyes said.

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On Nov. 1, the food pantry will celebrate 10 years of service in Wilmington.

“The good Lord has made it possible for us to do it and I give him all the praise,” said Maynard, adding that a young couple who attended the church came up with the idea in 2012.

Since its inception, the community has been very supportive of the pantry throughout the years. Maynard recalled when only four people showed up to their first meeting.

“By the end of 2012 we had 100 people and in the next year, up to 200 families showed up,” Maynard said. “I thought whoa — it’s going to take a lot of volunteers for that many families.”

After the pandemic struck the nation in 2020, the pantry closed and later reopened that year in September in its current drive-thru model.

During the pandemic, Reyes said, it was important to ensure the church pantry reopened to anyone who might need help.

The program now serves 65 families every week. While the church has had to reduce the numbers it serves due to fewer volunteers and social distancing recommendations, the drive-thru model is more efficient, said Maynard.

Meal recipients are required to register on the church website by the letter (A-D first week, E-L second week, M-R third week, S-V fourth week) that corresponds with their family’s last name. The number of family members determines how many bags of food each family receives in the drive-thru, according to Maynard.

“We actually found that we can give out more and offer more services this way because it’s a more organized operation now,” Maynard said. “We don’t plan on going back to distributing from the building.”

In addition to the weekly free food distribution, volunteers at the church also give away essential non-food items that they receive.

"We’re not going to open a closet anytime soon, but there are plenty of other things that come our way that we make sure the homeless get ... such as gloves for the winter," Maynard said. "We don't want to waste anything."

The Greenbank Church of Christ food pantry is one of the largest emergency food distributors in the Wilmington area, according to the Food Bank of Delaware's website.

Maynard estimates that the food pantry has distributed 6 million pounds of food since it opened. The next food distribution day at Greenbank Church of Christ is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 8.

Have a tip or story ideas? Contact local reporter Cameron Goodnight at cgoodnight@delawareonline.com, or by calling or texting 302-324-2208. Follow him on Twitter at @CamGoodnight.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Why this Delaware church has spent 10 years feeding local families