The residents of one Aiken community have the dates circled on their calendars a year in advance. They can depend on Cornerstone Baptist Church to meet their needs every third Wednesday of each month.
Once a month, members of the congregation load up nearly a ton of food from Golden Harvest Food Bank in Aiken and bring the food to the church to be boxed for households as small as a single person and as large as eight people. Residents who are in need come by the church to receive the much needed boxes. And though the ministry started as a way to feed the community, it has blossomed into so much more.
“Every time they come to pick up food, we talk with them and find out what is going on with their families,” said Coile Scarborough, part-time minister of music at the church.
These conversations have led to discovery of deep needs and a growing prayer list for the church.
Scarborough lists many varied situations such as a wealthy family whose money was tied to the care of a husband with Alzheimer’s or a widower whose husband had fallen ill and died. All cases started with feeding the hungry and led to ministering to the sick and needy.
“We have helped a lot of people like that,” recalled Scarborough.
One lady in particular caught the attention of church members. Riddled with emphysema, she fell and broke her hip which led to the grim discovery of an aneurysm in her chest cavity. As she would come to pick up her food, church members would listen to her story, cry with her, care for her and most importantly tell her that Jesus had not forgotten her. Today she is recovering from surgery for both her hip and aneurysm.
Cornerstone, which uses some church budget money to purchase the food, depends largely on the World Hunger Relief funds collected by churches from all over South Carolina to meet the needs of their community. Church members say that they benefit almost as much as the recipients.
“This ministry is not just about feeding bodies,” said volunteer Gene Edgar. “Many, many times it is about allowing someone to cry and you to cry with them.”