Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009

Grace is in the bag

Every Saturday volunteers from Grace Church pass out hundreds of lunches to needy Hispanic families in Apex and Cary

Since last April, Gilbert Pagan, his wife Carol and members of Grace Church in Cary have been distributing brown bag lunches to needy Spanish-speaking neighborhoods in Cary and Apex.

“We gave out everything,” Gilbert Pagan said, not long past noon on a recent Saturday. Pagan and members of Grace Church stood empty handed and amazed that in less than one hour they had given out 300 brown bag lunches containing items like water, sandwiches, bananas and cookies.

Hungry families were gratefully taking five to six bags at a time, Gilbert Pagan said.

The Pagans have been pastors of the Spanish ministry at Grace Church for nearly two years. Every Saturday the couple, along with volunteers from their church, drive to one neighborhood in Apex and two in Cary, bringing with them plenty of food to distribute. The number of volunteers varies each weekend, but on this particular Saturday about 10 were lending a hand.

There are approximately 30 members of the Spanish ministry of Grace Church. Many of them live in the very neighborhoods they are helping. One volunteer had himself received a bag lunch from Grace Church.

Gilbert Pagan said that their goal is not to preach or convert, but that they are “just trying to help out.” He said there is “No obligation … They’re hungry and don’t know where the next food is gonna come from.”

The 300 brown bag lunches that were swept away so quickly in Apex that Saturday were only a small portion of a larger mission. The Brown Bag Ministry gets the lunches through St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Apex.

Every Saturday, members at St. Andrew prepare, and with the help of churches like Grace Church, distribute 1,000 bag lunches across Raleigh, Durham, Apex and Cary. “They make as many as we want,” Gilbert Pagan said.

Claudia Leon of Veracruz, Mexico, stood outside her Apex trailer, which she shares with six others. She has been receiving food from Grace Church every week. While Gilbert Pagan translated, she said, “I’m very grateful for the program. It’s a need being met.”

Though the bag lunches were exhausted in Apex, there was still bread and cake left to be distributed, so Gilbert Pagan and the volunteers left Apex and headed for a neighborhood in Cary where they gave out the remaining food.

Next week, they will do it all over again. “That’s what Grace Church is all about: giving,” said Michael Prince, a volunteer and member of the English ministry at Grace Church.