GULF SHORES, Ala. -  It’s a Wednesday morning and a full crew of volunteers staff the Food Pantry at the CSC. Wednesday is a heavy work day at the CSC; it’s the Bay Area Food Bank delivery day.

Produce is donated from various grocery stores in Baldwin and Mobile Counties to the Food Bank in Theodore; which then is delivered to several agencies including the CSC in Gulf Shores. The CSC then shares their delivery with several area food ministries.

When the call “The Methodist are here!” rings through the warehouse, that means that Rev. Richard Brooks and Tommy White from Morgan’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Bon Secour have arrived.

Bon Secour, a nearby fishing village, has suffered greatly because of the oil spill.

In 2010, Swift Elementary School had the highest percentage of subsidized lunches in Baldwin County. Rev. Brooks credits the food the CSC shared with the Morgan’s Chapel UMC with sparking the beginning of their food ministry. Church members now volunteer and contribute food and money to supplement the CSC donation.

“You don’t go wrong giving people groceries,” Rev. Brooks said.

Mr. White says that we are “just a little small fishing village trying to take care of our own” and tells a story of the day the cookies ran out before a young boy could get any.

A lot of people cried that day, and now Mrs. White and all the volunteers make sure there are always plenty of cookies and treats for the kids; the kinds of things that the family budget just doesn’t stretch to cover.

Grace Lutheran member Earl Janssen says he retired to Gulf Shores to sit at the beach and relax, but he found a higher calling instead. Now he picks up donations to share with their small congregation. Janssen says that with out the CSC donations, many of their congregation wouldn’t eat. He loves to see the “joy in the eyes of the toddlers” when they get foods they don’t get at home.