Helping Hand Food Pantry at St. John’s Seventh-day Adventist Church does just what its name suggests. The church distributes food baskets filled with nonperishable items every two months to anyone in need.
“People on St. John are really struggling,” said Annette Smalls, who serves as the Community Service Coordinator for the church.
The need is great, and Smalls said baskets are delivered to a wide range of people that includes seniors, single mothers and homeless people. According to Smalls, the church would like to expand its Food Pantry program but needs more donations to make it work.
The Food Pantry’s need provides a good solution for the island’s vacation villa guests who bought more food than they can consume during their stay. They can drop off their unopened jars, bottles, cans, and bags of food at the church’s front door on their way to return their rental car or hop the barge to St. Thomas. The front door is in a sheltered location, and Smalls said there is someone at the church frequently so it won’t sit out for long. He asked donators to write Food Pantry on the bag.
When headed toward Cruz Bay on Centerline Road, the church driveway is on the right hand side just before the last sharp turn as the road heads toward the roundabout. There is plenty of parking and it’s easy to turn around.
Smalls said the food baskets are packed on the third Sunday of the month, with delivery timed to reach those in need just as their monthly funding is running short.
On a recent visit, the pantry had peanut butter, soup, canned milk, pasta sauce, rice, cereal, canned vegetables and fruits, cans of beef stew, beans, tuna, salmon, and beans on hand. Smalls said any type of non-perishable food is accepted as long as the containers are sealed. Even a donation of a single can or bag will help fill the shelves.
Additionally, the Food Pantry collects toiletries to distribute with the food basket and to the island’s homeless people.
The Food Pantry gets donations from several St. John grocery stores, but Smalls said there is more need.
According to Smalls, a social worker at the Family Resource Center’s St. John office located at Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center, food basket recipients don’t have to fill out any forms or prove financial need to get a basket. She said church members usually learn of people in need through word of mouth, but she said people can call her to let her know if they’d like a basket or know of someone in need.
The Food Pantry, which opened in November 2012, is an offshoot of the church’s outreach program to the island’s homeless. That program needs men’s clothing that’s clean and in good condition. Donors can also drop that off at the church’s front door.
The church provides showers for homeless people from 3 to 5 p.m. Sundays and Thursdays.
Smalls got involved in homeless issues after she returned home to St. John in 2011. A graduate of Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists in Collegedale, Tenn., with a bachelor’s degree in social work, she worked eight years in New York City in early childhood education and 11 years with people with developmental disabilities in Worcester, Mass.
Shortly after she got back to St. John, she said she noticed the large number of homeless people sleeping on Cruz Bay Beach. She bought some bagels, juice and water, and started feeding them.
Smalls and the Rev. Wynfield Ambrose, who serves as pastor at the church, see the work with homeless people and the Food Pantry as an extension of Jesus’ mission.
“We are a community-based church,” Ambrose said.
To get more information or arrange donations, call Smalls at 1-340-776-6390.
The Food Pantry also welcomes monetary donations. Make checks payable to Cruz Bay SDA Church. In the memo section, write SDA Community Services, Helping Hand Food Pantry or Homeless Fund. Donors can request a receipt for tax purposes. Funds can also be place in collection jars at Nature’s Way Health Food Store and St. John Hardware at the Market Place on St. John.
