A food pantry that began as a closet inside Park Avenue Church of Christ in Denison now fills a building of its own, and the people running it say hundreds of residents shop there each month.
KXII profiled the Barnabas Center in a report published Friday. Co-administrator Karen Elmore told the station the pantry grew out of the church closet about 20 years ago and moved into a building that was donated to it seven years ago.
How it works
Instead of handing out a fixed box, the center is set up like a small grocery store, with aisles and freezers. Shoppers can choose canned goods, cereal, snacks and, at times, beef, and a volunteer grocery assistant walks with each family to learn what it needs. A separate table near the entrance offers extras such as toothpaste, children's snacks and pet food, according to KXII.
"When you come twice a month to do your grocery shopping, you shop for what you want, not for what we want you to have," Elmore told KXII. She said the stock is matched to the people who come in, including foods familiar to the area's Hispanic families.
