Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WEST POINT — Volunteers from Valley Community Outreach (a.k.a. The Village) had another successful food distribution this past Saturday morning. A total of 1,100 large boxes of food were given out in approximately two-and-a-half hours at the Bethlehem Baptist Church on East 10th Street.

A tractor-trailer loaded with the food arrived early in the morning from Savannah. Mayor Steve Tramell offered a lending hand by unloading the boxes with a forklift.

“We started giving out the food around 7:30 this morning,” said Bridgette Heard Wilson of The Village. “It was all given out by 10 o’clock.”

Recipients did not have to get out of their cars. A line of traffic was directed to the distribution point. When it was their turn in line, all the recipient had to do was to have a back door open or to pop their trunk.

Each big box contained a gallon of milk, some Kiefer low-fat milk, cheese, a big bag of pre-seasoned chicken patties, some chicken franks, oranges, several large onions and heads of lettuce.

Volunteers were pleased to see lots of seniors in the food line.

“We are planning another distribution, probably in June,” Wilson said. “We want to thank Mayor Tramell and the City of West Point for helping us today. We also want to thank Earl Claitt and the Adaptive Life Foundation for their assistance. It takes teamwork, and it takes a village to do this kind of project. We thank pastors, deacons, church members, Masons, Eastern Stars and council members for helping us, and we appreciate it. We had people here today not just from West Point, Lanett and Valley but also from Columbus, Phenix City, LaGrange, Atlanta and Birmingham. Everyone served as one, and 1,100 families were blessed. Thank you, Jesus!”

Making contributions to this team effort were Bethlehem Baptist, Love Union Baptist and the Active Life Center, all of West Point; Generational Changers of Phenix City; the Bowen East District Center, Mount Hermon Baptist, St. John’s Community Baptist, and the Senior Center, Lanett; Christ Missionary and Evergreen Baptist churches, Valley; Abanda Baptist Church, Abanda, and Sardis Baptist Church, Camp Hill.

“We thank the community for their continued support,” said Clint Gilder of The Village. “As long as they continue supporting us, we will continue doing events like this. We love giving back to the community, and we appreciate all those who help us do it.”