New toiletry pantry offers help with hygiene products
Some of the members of Community Faith Chapel helping with the pantry are pictured above. In the front row, from left to right: Stephanie Jacobson, Hanna Blankenship, Colton Blankenship, Andrea Blankenship, Amelia Hagins and Makenna Hagins. Back row: Alex Walling, Rex Eaton, Tracy Roney, Pastor Rick Cooper, Monzell Hagins and Missy Wolf.
March 14, 2018
Charlea Estes-Jones
A new toiletry pantry program has started at a local church and is helping those in need with basic hygiene care. The toiletry pantry is held at the Community Faith Chapel, and it’s being run entirely by volunteers and donations.
The program is spearheaded by church member Stephanie Jacobson, who got the idea when she was working with people with mental illness. She shared, “I worked for Burrell Behavioral Health in Stone County for six years, and I worked with individuals who had severe and persistent mental illnesses. Most of them were very low income, and toiletry items were some of the hardest items for them to get. Their income usually paid for basic housing. Food could come from food stamps or a food pantry, but there was no program to buy those items for them. The assistance for that was missing.”
So last June, Jacobson began collecting donations and providing them for emergency situations for people in the community. It wasn’t until last Wednesday that the idea came to fruition as a weekly program for those in need. The first weekly opportunity began on March 7, and the church will continue to hold the pantry each Wednesday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Jacobson said, “I switched jobs back in May and wanted to do something to help my community and my area. That is just one area that I could reach out and help people with.
“Since I go to Community Faith, I brought it up and everyone was on board and thought it was a great outreach.”
The program supplies adult and children’s soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, as well as household cleaning products, shampoo, deodorant, denture adhesive, laundry detergent, laundry softener or dryer sheets, diapers in sizes one through six, baby wipes, and trash bags.
The first Wednesday, they had three people come. Jacobson said, “We are really trying to get the word out. Our mission statement is the last part of Galatians 5:13, ‘Serve one another humbly in love.’ So that’s what we are trying to do.”
So far, Jacobson has provided information about the program to the Cassville Food Pantry, Division of Family Services, OACAC and the senior center.
When people come into the church on Wednesdays for the pantry, they are given a registration from. They fill out basic information and request what they need. The church then serves them a light meal and plays an educational or salvation-based video while they fill the person’s request.
She said, “The only thing we ask for is a photo ID. We let the Lord lead us, so there are no income requirements; no hoops to jump through.”
All of the items the pantry is providing are donated. Jacobson said they have received donations from their church members, other churches and individuals in the community.
Community Faith Chapel is located at 13372 State Highway 248 in Cassville at the corner of Highway 248 and 13th Street. For additional information, contact Jacobson at (417) 847-7654.
Charlea Estes-Jones
A new toiletry pantry program has started at a local church and is helping those in need with basic hygiene care. The toiletry pantry is held at the Community Faith Chapel, and it’s being run entirely by volunteers and donations.
The program is spearheaded by church member Stephanie Jacobson, who got the idea when she was working with people with mental illness. She shared, “I worked for Burrell Behavioral Health in Stone County for six years, and I worked with individuals who had severe and persistent mental illnesses. Most of them were very low income, and toiletry items were some of the hardest items for them to get. Their income usually paid for basic housing. Food could come from food stamps or a food pantry, but there was no program to buy those items for them. The assistance for that was missing.”
So last June, Jacobson began collecting donations and providing them for emergency situations for people in the community. It wasn’t until last Wednesday that the idea came to fruition as a weekly program for those in need. The first weekly opportunity began on March 7, and the church will continue to hold the pantry each Wednesday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Jacobson said, “I switched jobs back in May and wanted to do something to help my community and my area. That is just one area that I could reach out and help people with.
“Since I go to Community Faith, I brought it up and everyone was on board and thought it was a great outreach.”
The program supplies adult and children’s soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, as well as household cleaning products, shampoo, deodorant, denture adhesive, laundry detergent, laundry softener or dryer sheets, diapers in sizes one through six, baby wipes, and trash bags.
The first Wednesday, they had three people come. Jacobson said, “We are really trying to get the word out. Our mission statement is the last part of Galatians 5:13, ‘Serve one another humbly in love.’ So that’s what we are trying to do.”
So far, Jacobson has provided information about the program to the Cassville Food Pantry, Division of Family Services, OACAC and the senior center.
When people come into the church on Wednesdays for the pantry, they are given a registration from. They fill out basic information and request what they need. The church then serves them a light meal and plays an educational or salvation-based video while they fill the person’s request.
She said, “The only thing we ask for is a photo ID. We let the Lord lead us, so there are no income requirements; no hoops to jump through.”
All of the items the pantry is providing are donated. Jacobson said they have received donations from their church members, other churches and individuals in the community.
Community Faith Chapel is located at 13372 State Highway 248 in Cassville at the corner of Highway 248 and 13th Street. For additional information, contact Jacobson at (417) 847-7654.