Taul helping start new food pantry

Published 12:37 pm Tuesday, May 29, 2018

First Baptist Church on Highland Street handed out its first bag of food from its new food pantry Saturday morning, and Yvonne Taul watched it happen.

For the last five months, Taul and a team of other volunteers worked to bring the vision of a food ministry to life at the downtown Winchester church.

“Pastor (Marvin) King’s had this vision for quite a while,” Taul said. “This has been a vision of mine for a long, long time.”

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Earlier this year, Taul and others, including Taria Booker and Frances Mitchell, responded to a call from King in the pulpit. After meeting with church administrators, they were off and running.

“We just started working on it at the first of the year,” Taul said. “We’re prepared to feed 20 families right now. We want to start small and grow.”

Taul, who lives in Mount Sterling, started attending First Baptist about five years ago.  Taul said she was looking for a church which was active in the community and had good youth programs. Someone told her about First Baptist, and she made the trip to Winchester one Court Days weekend. The rest, she said, is history.

“It’s a blessing to be able to serve,” she said. “As we grow, it’s more than a food pantry. It’s a food ministry. We want (clients) to feel comfortable when they come in. I see a lot of people in need of more than food. This is a basic need we can meet in our community.”

Taul said the church also has an agreement with God’s Pantry Food Bank to help supply some of the food. The initial supply, she said, was donated by the congregation through a food drive. The church members gave enough to last for a couple weekends, she said.

At this point, the pantry will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays at the church. Eventually, Taul said she would like to add weekday hours as well.

“I’m excited,” she said. “God has blessed this church and we want to be a blessing to the community.”

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

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