Food Lion Partners with God’s Food Pantry to Feed the Hungry (View video here)

December 18, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Food Lion of Smithville is partnering with God’s Food Pantry to again help feed the hungry during the holidays.

Employees of the store delivered truck loads of “Food Lion Holidays without Hunger” food boxes to the pantry Wednesday afternoon.

Through the campaign, Food Lion customers could purchase and donate a specially-marked “Holidays Without Hunger” food box or make a cash donation at checkout.

Greg Eller, manager of the Smithville Food Lion store, said Food Lion believes ending hunger is a reason to give this holiday season.

“We are donating approximately 500 food boxes which were purchased by customers at our store. Food Lion does this every year and not just in Smithville but at stores throughout our Food Lion chain,” said Eller.

(View Video Below featuring Gods Food Pantry volunteers Pat Zornow, James Owens, Stevie and Brenda Cripps, Bernice Hendrixson, Rose Dillen and Smithville Food Lion Manager Greg Eller)

Pat Zornow and other volunteers at God’s Food Pantry from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Each “Food Lion” food box contains macaroni and cheese, canned mixed vegetables, rice, tomato soup, chunk light tuna, pot ready spaghetti, and other food staples.

Pat Zornow, a volunteer at God’s Food Pantry, said the partnership with Food Lion is most welcome.

“Food Lion has worked very closely with the pantry over the last few years with their donations including the Food Lion “Holidays Without Hunger” boxes and we want to give them the credit they are due for their cooperation with us. People need to understand that this food pantry is built with 100% volunteers and 100% donations. Most of our food we have to purchase from Second Harvest except for what we can buy from Food Lion,” said Zornow.

Eller said Food Lion also hopes to make another “sizeable donation” to God’s Food Pantry next month.

“We had tried to get something approved by corporate for December but due to budget constraints they wanted to wait until January and do a sizeable donation for this food pantry so they have put us off until January. I don’t know how much it will be yet but it will be based on the number of people this pantry serves,” added Eller.

For more than a decade God’s Food Pantry has provided food and other essentials throughout the year to help meet the needs of the medically frail and elderly, children, veterans, the homeless, and the working poor.

Food is distributed on the first Friday (perishables when Second Harvest delivers) and on the third Friday (non-perishable food staples in addition to meats) of every month from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. from the pantry at 430 East Broad in Smithville.

“This particular week we will have breads and a lot of frozen foods including vegetables, fruits, pies, cakes, and even ice cream,” said Zornow.

“We also have turkeys donated by Tenneco Automotive and we were able to buy pork this time from Second Harvest and thank God we got in some large hams so the larger families of 5 members or more are going to get another large turkey or large ham  for Christmas. For the smaller families, there is all kinds of other meats including beef and chicken,”  Zornow added

If an emergency should arise, a volunteer can open the pantry anytime 24 hours a day to serve an individual or family.“We have various people who volunteer. They come and go to help people in an emergency. Among our volunteers today are some who formerly needed help themselves. They are now a part of our volunteer family,” she continued.

The effort began almost thirteen years ago as the First United Methodist Church Food Pantry located at the Methodist Church. However because of space issues, the pantry was later moved to its first community location at 107B East Bryant Street. Due to an increasing need for more services and additional space, the pantry moved again to its current location four years ago.

Today God’s Food Pantry serves approximately 9,000 families or 22,000 people each year and its reach extends beyond DeKalb County. No one in need is turned away no matter where they are from.

“I get referrals from schools about children in need. In some cases they don’t have food at home. We have a lot of veterans we are feeding right now. A couple of them are living in canisters. I know of people living in their cars. Others are basically living in squaller without electricity. Sometimes we make referrals, especially for men, to the Cookeville Rescue Mission. In other cases, we put people or families up temporarily in a local motel to help them,” Zornow added.

Special pickups and deliveries are made for the medically frail and elderly. “If someone is on a special diet we’ll purchase the foods they need. We provide extra help with gas cards and Food Lion cards and assist with utilities, rent, and medications especially for our elderly who can’t afford to pay for it. We even buy special clothes for people who may need adequate apparel. For those who can work we let them know where the jobs are. Whatever the need is we’re going to help that person,” she said.

The pantry is staffed by volunteers and supported totally by donations. It does not receive any local, state, or federal government funding. The money raised goes toward purchasing food for the distribution.

“Many churches support the pantry and there are people in the community, businesses, civic organizations and even food drives who give us donations along with Food Lion, Tenneco Automotive, and Wilson Bank & Trust who are especially supportive. This effort is 100% volunteer driven and a community affair and we encourage more churches, businesses, organizations to join us,” said Zornow.

December 18, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Utility District water treatment plant has been down since Saturday but DUD customers haven’t noticed because the water has kept flowing thanks to the City of Smithville.

According to DUD Manager Jon Foutch, a problem was discovered last weekend at the DUD intake facility near the lake where a joint pulled apart from a water pipe causing a disruption in service.

“It’s a pipe coming out of the intake in the edge of the building and what we have found is that the pipe on the joint separated. It just pushed apart. We’ve had to remove some concrete just inside the building to get down to it to make the repair but until we complete it we can’t get any water to the plant to treat,” Foutch told WJLE.

The DUD’s engineers and water plant construction team have been brought in for consultation and work on fixing the problem.

Before the plant was shut down, DUD’s water connections with the City of Smithville were reactivated under a water purchase agreement between the two entities.

“The city has been real good to work with us. We turned them (DUD water connections with the city) back on to keep the water flowing and no one (DUD water customer) knew any difference,” said Foutch.

Under the water purchase agreement adopted by the City and DUD in the fall of 2017, each of the utilities may purchase water from the other in times of need.  The city maintains eight existing master meters that can service both utilities.

The DeKalb Utility District serves 5,300 customers in either all or portions of DeKalb, Smith, Cannon, and Wilson counties.

December 18, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Another “DeKalb County Neighbors Helping Neighbors” blood drive is set for Monday January 20 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. at the Community Complex in front of the Seniors Citizens location.

You may schedule an appointment at www.bloodassurance.org/dekalb. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Blood Assurance is the sole blood provider for the local hospitals and Air Evac in Middle Tennessee and your donation is needed for an adequate supply. Remember three lives can be saved with every donation.

The most recent blood drive was in November.

“We at Blood Assurance want to thank all our donors. We also want to thank County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss for his help in donating blood himself and for his assistance in organizing the “DeKalb Neighbors Helping Neighbors” blood drives in DeKalb County. The first blood drive with Jimmy was in November 2016 and we have had consistent blood drives every 56 to 60 days to date. The great people of DeKalb County have shown their support and we now have more donors with each blood drive. Together we have saved over 900 lives during the course of these blood drives just with the “DeKalb Neighbors Helping Neighbors” events alone. I ask you to continue donating and helping Blood Assurance keep our local hospitals stocked with the blood needed on a daily basis,” said Trudy Cody Account Manager/Donor Recruiter for Blood Assurance.

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