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During most of the week, the Girls Room at Crimson House is filled with chairs, tables and … girls. But twice a month, when the church hosts its C-Street Connect food pantry, it is filled with fresh food and volunteers.

Used as the cold food distribution center on pantry days, the room had been dark and dreary with insufficient lighting. Thanks to Keller Williams Real Estate, Crimson House was selected to benefit from its annual Red Day program. The room has been transformed with bright pink walls, uplifting messages and plenty of light.

When Keller Williams selected Crimson House for a make-over, they had no idea about the pantry. They picked the Commercial Street church for its outreach to the homeless community, including serving more than 7,000 meals last year. However, when the volunteers from the real estate firm arrived on a pantry day to do some prep work, their eyes were opened to the amazing food ministry C-Street Connect does.

C-Street feeds more than 400 families each month, filling up carts with fresh produce, bakery items, frozen and canned items, as well as USDA commodities for those who qualify. Using the church’s basement fellowship hall and classrooms, about 30 volunteers unload and stack food from a Food Bank truck, pack it into boxes and bags, greet and register hundreds of participants using Charity Tracker in real time, and deliver the loaded wagons to waiting cars, then clean up for the church’s regular activities.

“It just really spoke to them,” said Pastor John Pace. “They couldn’t believe it.”

C-Street Connect began in 2013 after The Kitchen Inc. closed its food pantry. That is when Crimson House became a member agency of Ozarks Food Harvest with both its congregate feeding and pantry programs.

Crimson House Ministries bought the old church on Robberson Avenue, just south of Commercial Street, in 2003. Built in 1918, the building was in rough shape, but they believed they could fix it up over the coming years. They did that until 2012 when straight-line wind damaged most of the roof. They were able to fix it, but it put them “behind the curve” on getting other needed repairs done.

“Now we are ahead of the curve,” said Pace. “It’s such a blessing.”

 

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