BBCF Assists Heavenly Blessings Food Pantry with Filling Community's Needs

Founded in 2020, the Heavenly Blessings Food Pantry is filling the needs of its community. Twice a month at Tejas Baptist Church, they distribute food boxes to more than 150 residents from Colmesneil, Doucette, Rockland and Rocky Springs, Texas. Like a well-oiled machine, this team of volunteers greets every car that comes through their drive-thru style line with a genuine smile, big “hello!” and sometimes even a treat for their puppy passengers. 

On the second and fourth Friday of every month, cars line up along U.S. Highway 69 to receive their food box, packed with canned goods, vegetables, nuts, shelf stable and powered milk products, rice, pasta and even a few treats.

Each family has a card recognizing they have passed all the requirements to receive a food box. They give their card to the first set of volunteers stationed under a pop-up canopy before moving through the line to a small storage shed that houses several freezers full of food and the 

boxes that have been lined up the day before with non-perishable items. Their final stop is at the trailer, which is loaded down with watermelons, oranges or whatever fresh produce is available. Sometimes the recipients pick-up their friends’ or neighbors’ boxes, if they weren’t able to come by. There’s a sweet sense of camaraderie and kindness between the volunteers and those receiving food. No judgment; just smiles.

Come rain or shine, around eight to ten volunteers brave the heat, cold and other extreme Texas conditions to make sure their neighbors have enough food to last through the next two weeks. When asked why they volunteer, some said it just made them feel good, even admitting they feel like they are the ones who get the most out of giving back. Small, but mighty, this dedicated group of volunteers all agree they are blessed to be a part of providing for the needs in the communities.

Heavenly Blessings Food Pantry began providing food in 2019 by distributing produce they received from the Southeast Texas Food Bank out of a low-boy trailer parked in front of Colmesneil Town Hall. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they officially partnered with the SETX Food Bank so they could purchase additional food items for their bi-weekly boxes. 

Because the food pantry relies solely on donations from local churches and other individuals, they purchase what they can from the SETX Food Bank. Brookshire Brothers gift cards, donated through a Brookshire Brothers Charitable Foundation grant, help supplement when necessary. 

Woodsville store director David Duncan helps where he can, too, by providing milk boxes that are sturdy enough to handle what the food pantry packs up every two weeks and hosting food drives at the store. 
 

The Brookshire Brothers Charitable Foundation is honored to support organizations like the Heavenly Blessings Food Pantry! We appreciate all the work they do for our communities.