Employees with Jacobs Media Corporation volunteered Tuesday to help Gainesville First United Methodist Church load grocery bags for families who live at Baker and Glover Mobile Home Park.
"It's a way we can give back and be involved in a ministry that cares about children and the gaps that are presented with summer vacations,” Jacobs Media Corporation Executive Vice President and General Manager Bill Maine said. “Our staff can engage and see the larger picture of need within Hall County. We appreciate Gainesville First United Methodist Church giving us the opportunity to serve."
Gainesville First United Methodist Church began this summer tradition four years ago. The church partnered with Path Project to purchase and convert a mobile home into a community center.
Path Project is an organization that provides after-school programs, reading clubs and home visits to families living in mobile home communities. The organization’s regional director, Meredith Pierce, operates the food preparation services inside Baker and Glover’s community center.
Gainesville First United Methodist Church senior pastor Jamey Prickett said the lunches were originally limited to sandwiches, but volunteers with the church and the Path Project decided to incorporate more sustainable foods.
“Starting two years ago, actually during COVID, we just saw the need for some of your basic groceries as well,” Prickett said. “So the way we do it now is we pack a grocery bag or maybe two with a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread with sandwich meat and some other essential items.”
These meals include breakfast foods like pastries or cereal, and Prickett said each meal can feed a family of four for a week.
Local businesses and individuals can sign up to help pack and distribute lunches to families at the mobile home park by visiting Gainesville First United Methodist Church’s website.
Prickett said Jacobs Media Corporation was the only local business to participate this year, but enough church volunteers were recruited to make the lunches.
“We have Sunday school classes at Gainesville Church,” Prickett said. “We have people that are just familiar with the program who come in and volunteer to pack.”
Volunteers are divided into two groups. One prepares meals, and the other delivers them every Tuesday.
Prickett said church members can model church practices and connect with the community by serving their time.
“We follow the biblical mandate of loving our neighbor,” Prickett said. “This is a way for us to model that [by] showing love to our neighbors here in Baker and Glover and the Gainesville community.”
