Missouri Church Donates Fridge and Freezer to Mount Vernon United Methodist Church

The Mount Vernon United Methodist Church received a donated fridge and freezer from Maysville United Methodist Church in Maysville, Missouri on Saturday, July 26, doubling the church’s food pantry storage space.

The Maysville church got into contact with the Mount Vernon church through the network all Methodist churches operate under.

“I don’t know if you know much about Methodists, but we’re sort of part of a bigger network of churches, and we’re in what’s called the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church,” said Mike O’Quinn, a member of the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church.

The Maysville church contacted the Mount Vernon church’s district superintendent, offering aid a few months after Hurricane Helene. However, by the time the Maysville church reached out, the Mount Vernon location had already repaired all damages through insurance and conference assistance.

“By the time Maysville reached us, and I’m really glad they reached out to us to try and help in that regard, we basically had the hurricane damage taken care of,” O’Quinn said.

Instead, the Mount Vernon location asked if the Maysville church would be interested in assisting the new food pantry with their freezer storage space. After multiple fundraisers, the Maysville location purchased one large Frigidaire freezer and one Frigidaire refrigerator from the Home Depot in Dublin, and also had the items shipped to the Mount Vernon church.

“I think it doubled our freezer space, and we didn’t have a refrigerator before, so that’s a 100% increase,” said O’Quinn.

The Maysville church also donated several children’s items for the church’s burgeoning kids program, though the shipping box was not opened as to wait until a 4 year old church member could open it.

According to O’Quinn, the pantry will be able to double the amount of meat it stores every month, from 200 pounds to 400 pounds, as well as beginning to stock fresh produce.

Mount Vernon United Methodist Church’s food pantry began after the Southern Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church granted the Mount Vernon location $1,000 to start the pantry, similar to seed money.

The Mount Vernon United Methodist Church’s food pantry also partners with Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, a Savannah based food bank. Second Harvest sells the church a selection of food for low prices and ships the food in refrigerated trucks as long as the church purchases at least $250 of food.

The Mount Vernon food pantry serves as Second Harvest’s westernmost food pantry, as Wheeler County and beyond have their own food pantries under other networks.

O’Quinn has also reached out to the nearby First Baptist Church, which will send volunteers on distribution nights, though the two churches “haven’t really firmed up a solid partnership.” O’Quinn has also been contacted by the Brewton-Parker Christian College’s girls soccer team, who may send over volunteers in September.

The pantry distributes food on the second Thursday of every month from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.