Jesus Loves Me Ministry receives grant to help feed homeless in Aiken County

TAYLOR BELTZ, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

Jul. 31—The Jesus Loves Me Ministry received a $5,300 grant Friday from The Gifting Tree Foundation to help fund efforts to feed the homeless population in Aiken.

Jesus Loves Me Ministry is a nonprofit dedicated to helping the homeless by providing over 180 lunches each week and maintaining 17 Red Boxes, also called Blessing Boxes.

The lunches are delivered to 75 different stops with many of the stops being in wooded areas. They also deliver lunches twice a month to three different motels that house women and children.

The Red Boxes hold a variety of food and supplies available for free to the homeless community in Aiken. Each box is replenished five days a week and is estimated to serve 90 homeless people each.

Dianne Eubanks, who runs Jesus Loves Me Ministry, was inspired by her mother's generosity to help those in need.

"My mother always helped people," she said. "She always fed people."

The grant is a blessing to those in need that live in the Midland Valley area of Aiken County, Eubanks said.

"When God closes one door, he opens up more than one, and he's definitely opened up the door here more than you can imagine," she said.

The Aiken County Homeless Coalition brought the ministry together with The Gifting Tree Foundation to receive the grant, said Mary Anton, chair of the Aiken County Homeless Coalition.

"I, personally, was awe-inspired and humbled when I first heard Dianne speak about her ministry at one of our Coalition meetings," Anton said. "She brings food and supplies to the poorest of the poor among us — those who live in the woods or on the streets in the Valley."

The grant will help to fund 60 more lunches and four more Red Boxes. It will also help to stock those Red Boxes with more food and supplies.

Deliveries to the three motels would also increase from twice a month to three times a month with funds from the grant.

The Gifting Tree Foundation is a volunteer-based foundation that provides funds to meet the needs of the Aiken community, executive board member Monica Key said.

"And when this (request) came along from Jesus Loves Me Food Ministry, clearly there was a need here in this area for the homeless that are here and it touched all of our hearts," Key said. "And I said, 'Yes, this is something we want to do because everybody should have basic shelter and food.'"