BY STEFANIE BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post —
A self-described Eastern Shore “country preacher” is giving all credit to God after his church received an award for its growing community service in partnership with the local food bank.
“God sends who we need at the time … people that just want to help,” said Pastor Bobby Carroll Huether, of Pungoteague Community Church.
The award from the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore was presented on Tuesday, Dec. 10, by Director of Partner Agency Services Robby Rockey for the partner agency with the most growth on the Eastern Shore in fiscal year 2024.
Pungoteague Community Church, a small church with about 20 active members, tied for the most growth with the Rock Church of the Eastern Shore, of Melfa, which also received an award.
In December 2022, Pungoteague Community Church was serving 28 households with food provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the federal program, The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP.
In the summer of 2023, as grocery prices were rising with inflation, the church saw increasing numbers of households participating in the food assistance program.
By December 2023, Pungoteague Community Church was serving 66 households, an increase of more than 235%.
One year later, the church again has roughly doubled the number of households it serves to about 125.
That estimate does not include the 22 households that are receiving USDA foods through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program for seniors age 60 or older.
Pungoteague Community is the only church on the Eastern Shore that participates in the Community Supplemental Food Program.
“We’re just a handful, but we serve about 125 families a month,” Huether said.
About a half-dozen church volunteers usually help out on the twice-monthly food distribution days.
Vehicles typically begin lining up outside the food pantry two hours ahead of the 4 p.m. start time, and volunteers start bringing out the boxes and bags of food about an hour early.
But there are always outside volunteers who pitch in, from members of other area churches to local homeschool students and drivers who help load food into the vehicles in front of them in line, Huether said.
The tiny church distributes tons of food every month.
Five years ago, Pungoteague Community Church gave away about 3,200 pounds of food in one month.
Last month, it distributed 11,000 pounds of food.
“We’ve been blessed,” Huether said, noting that the Pungoteague church would not be able to make such an impact on the community without the support it receives from the nonprofit Feeding America.
Feeding America is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks, including the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore.
Feeding America has donated items to the church such as commercial-grade refrigerators and shelving for food storage.
Church volunteers keep a running inventory of the food, which is maintained in the event that Feeding America needs food for disaster relief, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Huether said.
Pungoteague Community Church became involved with the local food bank and Feeding America nearly 18 years ago, around the time that Huether became pastor.
Since then, he has seen participation in the food pantry rise and fall with the economy.
Huether recalled one impactful experience at the food pantry during the housing market crash of 2008.
It was around 6 p.m., when the food pantry closed, and Huether was there alone.
A sports car pulled up, and the driver asked if he could get some food.
The man wept as he explained that in the previous year, he had earned a six-figure salary, but since then he had lost his job, his savings had been depleted, he was losing his home, and his car was about to be repossessed.
It was a reminder that “we never know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” Huether said.
But the community has the assurance that “we’re here to help you in your time of need,” he said.
“That’s just the heart of our church,” Huether said. “We’re here to serve.”
