Sharing Food and Fellowship in Tacoma’s Hilltop Community
Having recently celebrated its 130th birthday, Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest black-founded church in Tacoma. Though this makes the food pantry, established in 1994, a relatively newer addition, it has since become an indispensable program of the church and the Hilltop community, both to connect people to food resources and to each other.
The pantry is located in the basement of the church, where volunteers gather on Tuesdays for open hours and Fridays for preparation. Over the years, they have developed a system to create paper bags of staple foods for their guests. Some of the items, like beans and pasta, stay mostly the same from week to week. The rest vary based on whatever has come in through donations and via the EFN delivery that arrives once a week. Keeping in mind that some guests don’t have access to a kitchen, they also prepare some more durable plastic bags and include items that can be consumed easily on the go. All told, they prepare and distribute about 50 bags every week.
By 10:00 am on Tuesdays, the bags line the tables in the church. Volunteers check in the guests who are able to visit once per month. The church is proud to serve families that come for diverse ethnic backgrounds. A large proportion of the guests have Russian or Asian heritage, and though language barriers can be difficult, somehow they always make it work. Oftentimes when someone does not speak English, a fellow guest who is bilingual will step in to translate, just one of the ways that the pantry helps build connections between people.
The pantry also brings together the volunteers in their shared work to help relieve hunger. They depend on about eight volunteers. For example, Jerrie is a church member who has given two mornings of her week for the past seven years. She still considers herself a newcomer compared to volunteers like Anne, who has volunteered for over 20 years, and Faye, who has been there since the pantry’s inception. Yet another volunteer is a 91-year-old Korean War veteran, who comes to lend a hand along with his caregiver. The long term commitment of these people not only keeps the food pantry available as a source of meeting needs, but also of tradition and memory.
The volunteers cite various reasons for their commitment. Many of them enjoy the social aspect, a way to have fellowship with friends while doing something positive for the community. For Anne, the reward is in the direct work with guests, which she considers her calling in the church. Being there for someone who is having a bad day, offering to pray with them if they would like, and sending them home with a bag of nutritious foods are rewarding experiences that she gets to have every week thanks to the food pantry.
One of Allen AME Food Pantry’s challenges is unloading food from deliveries on Friday mornings. They would love for some younger helping hands who are willing to do some lifting! If you can help out Fridays 10:00 am -12:00 pm, email pastor@allenchurch.org or call (253) 627- 6855.