The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

Church food giveaway feeds 400 families




Lebanon First United Methodist Church Pastor Ryan Bennett has a prayer with volunteers before the church’s food giveaway starts. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Lebanon First United Methodist Church Pastor Ryan Bennett has a prayer with volunteers before the church’s food giveaway starts. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Cars filled the James E. Ward Ag Center last Saturday as a part of an ongoing effort to help provide meals for Wilson County families. 

Lebanon First United Methodist Church held its quarterly food giveaway, which provided a week’s worth of groceries for 400 families. 

Lebanon First United pastor Ryan Bennett said the group set the date for the giveaway in January.

“After the March 3 tornados, we decided we were going to beef this up to 1,000 families because the need was so great,” said Bennett, who said the giveaway was to be held in conjunction with Cumberland University football’s spring game. 

“Then, this coronavirus thing happened, and we were worried we weren’t going to be able to have it,” he said. 

The group held meetings with Lebanon Mayor Bernie Ash about a safe way to have the event. 

“We’re limited to 20 volunteers through eight food stations — two people per station and four people running our traffic flow. The police have been amazing. They’re out here helping us. The goal is to get as much food out as we can while staying safe,” Bennett said. 

Volunteers loaded the groceries into the vehicles as drivers stopped at each station to station in a drive-thru format. 

Lebanon City Councilor Camille Burdine volunteered to load groceries for the giveaway with her son, Walker. 

“I think our community has been amazing through the tornado and now this crisis. One thing we’ve always tried to do is to help our people,” she said. “I think there are all sorts of needs, but this is one way we can help with a certain need.”

Parker Redmond pulls more bananas out of the box as he and Micayla Sutton distribute the fruit during the Lebanon First United Methodist Church’s food giveaway. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Parker Redmond pulls more bananas out of the box as he and Micayla Sutton distribute the fruit during the Lebanon First United Methodist Church’s food giveaway. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Bailey Sells adds a box of cereal to the collection of food for one recipient. Lebanon First United Methodist Church volunteers handed out food non-stop for more than two hours into cars at the James E. Ward Ag Center last Saturday. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Bailey Sells adds a box of cereal to the collection of food for one recipient. Lebanon First United Methodist Church volunteers handed out food non-stop for more than two hours into cars at the James E. Ward Ag Center last Saturday. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Dozens of cars line across the front drive of the Wilson County Expo Center to pick up food at the Lebanon First United Methodist Church’s food giveaway. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Dozens of cars line across the front drive of the Wilson County Expo Center to pick up food at the Lebanon First United Methodist Church’s food giveaway. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Scott Blitch helps to unload more than 30,000 pounds of food from a trailer for the Lebanon First United Methodist Church’s food giveaway. DALLUS WHITFIELD

Scott Blitch helps to unload more than 30,000 pounds of food from a trailer for the Lebanon First United Methodist Church’s food giveaway. DALLUS WHITFIELD

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