Neighbors feeding neighbors.
That is the work of the Sherwood Shores Baptist Church Food Pantry. Their mission has grown in scope over the past three years as their ministry has taken hold in the community.
“I wanted to start a food pantry,” Director Raquel Dennis said. “We came here and saw a need. Our community doesn’t have access to an actual grocery store. There are folks here who don’t have transportation— working class, elderly, veterans. We saw a need and we got to work.”
Three years ago, Dennis partnered with co-directors Judy Sanges and Ken Miller (now deceased) and approached their church with housing such an operation.
The church bought in, and the seed was planted.
The need was exacerbated by a tornado that destroyed much of Sherwood Shores in March of 2022.
“That happened shortly after we got started,” Sanges said. “And things haven’t been the same since. There are still homes out here with no electricity or working refrigerators.”
The church provided the facility and the new directors established ties with the North Texas Food Bank.
Partnerships have been forged and, as of today, the Sherwood Shores Baptist Church Food Pantry serves up to 40 families twice a week at their location— 1044 Hillcrest Circle in Gordonville.
According to Dennis, 100% of the pantry’s produce and pastries are donated by Brookshire’s in Pottsboro.
“Brookshire’s also donates about 90% of our meat,” Dennis said. “The North Texas Food Bank provides most of our canned goods and chips and things like that… But we do accept other food and cash donations. The need never goes away.”
The pantry is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Recipients can walk in through the west doors of the church, and all are welcome.
According to Dennis, all that is required to receive a donation is proof of residence and a state issued ID.
“We don’t turn people away,” Dennis said. “We serve the elderly, working class families and veterans— our number one priority is taking care of our veterans… But these working families are just having a hard time making it… I’ve been there. Things are going well, then something happens and you’re back in a hole… everyone needs a little help sometimes.”
Recipients can be served once every two weeks. Veterans can receive food once a week.
And they need not only be Gordonville residents, either.
“We have folks from all over— Whitesboro, Pottsboro, all over,” Dennis said.
They work with about 10 other pantries in Grayson County to serve as many folks as possible.
The pantry also accepts cash donations to help provide personal items like shampoo, toiletries, hygiene products and even dog food.
“We have folks who can get by on groceries with food stamps, but need help with personal items,” Dennis said.
Dennis and Sanges are aided by multiple volunteers from the church.
“We couldn’t do this without our volunteers,” Dennis said. “There is a lot that goes into being open two days a week— picking up, stocking and sorting food— it’s a lot of work.”
Randy Elliot is one of the pantry’s newest volunteers.
“I’ve been here about six weeks,” Elliot said. “I saw what they were doing and thought ‘man, what a great way to serve.’”
On top of growing cash, food donations and volunteers, the pantry’s next goal is to acquire a commercial-sized refrigerator.
“We have several household fridges, and they work well,” Dennis said. “But we need to be able to handle more capacity… Everything we have has been donated. It is amazing. I’ll put a need out on Facebook and folks respond.”
Beyond the Food Pantry, Sherwood Shores Baptist also hosts the annual community Trunk-or-Treat at Halloween, a free community breakfast on the second Saturday of each month, the annual community fish fry each summer as well as the regular meetings of the Sherwood Shores Neighborhood Watch group.
“We have some great people here— especially the kids,” Dennis said. “When I started here (some years ago) as the youth director, we had eight kids coming each week. Now we are up to 35.”
The Bible tells us that we liken our works to those of the Lord.
The Psalmist said that God “upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.”
When comparing our works to those of the Lord, we can understand them as small reflections of His greater acts of creation, healing and love— essentially, we are called to live by his example of charity and good will.
The folks at Sherwood Shores Baptist Food Pantry are doing just that.
For more information or to donate to the Sherwood Shores Food Pantry, contact Dennis at 303-829-6033 or email [email protected].
