By: Eric Czarnik | Sterling Heights Sentry | Published September 15, 2023
STERLING HEIGHTS — A new church food pantry is ready to reach out to the three H’s: the hungry, the hurting and the homeless.
Martha Powers and her husband, Ron, have just finished the installation of a Mini Food and Hygiene Pantry this month at Utica United Methodist Church. Martha Powers said the new mini pantry is accessible from outside the church building to give food and hygiene kits to people in need.
“Our church is trying to become more connected to our neighborhood and the needs of our neighbors,” she explained.
Powers explained that Utica United already has a pantry inside the church that collaborates with a food bank. But Powers said beneficiaries of that program are required to present documentation of residency in Macomb County.
“For the homeless, that then narrows the field,” she said. “We decided that doing a mini pantry on the property of our church would allow the homeless to find some food that they would need and could use.”
Powers said she and her husband have contributed funds toward the mini pantry project, and friends and neighbors have helped stock it with food. But the pantry has also had support from several organizations.
She said the Wave Project, a mobile shower unit that helps the local homeless population, offered Powers the blueprints to build a pantry, since it has experience assisting pantries at other churches. Home Depot in Madison Heights offered some funding, she added.
In addition, the nonprofit Blessing Bags Brigade of Michigan will supply the hygiene supplies. Co-founder Gregg Monbleau said his ministry makes hygiene kits for people in need who live within the tri-county area. Kit bags may contain soap, deodorant, bandages, cotton swabs, lotion and other basics, he said.
Monbleau said the bags can help ease the problem of hygiene poverty, in which people have to choose between paying for food or hygiene products. He was happy to partner with the new Utica United Methodist pantry.
“I think what it does is that it truly expands the reach of what we’re doing throughout southeast Michigan,” he said.
Powers said Utica United’s congregation has been “very excited and welcoming” about the new mini pantry. She also said the pantry is accepting donations of certain supplies.
“We’re looking for nonperishable food items, so breakfast bars; small fruit cups; granola bars; small microwavable mac and cheese for those who do have access to a microwave; peanut butter mini cups with crackers,” she said. “Those are the types of nonperishable food that we will be able to keep it stocked with.”
Utica United Methodist Church is located at 8650 Canal Road in Sterling Heights. Learn more by visiting uticaumc.org or by calling (586) 731-7667. Learn more about the Blessing Bags Brigade by visiting blessingbagsbrigade.com.