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Volunteers help with Storehouse Food Pantry Thanksgiving distribution

The Storehouse Food Pantry in Manchester was joined by 25 members of the Coffee County Central High School Baseball Team Tuesday, Nov. 21 to help distribute food to community members in need before the Thanksgiving holiday.

“This year we have the baseball team from the high school,” Storehouse founder Staria Davison said. “We have Walmart here in Manchester and Walmart managers from all around the region.”

Cars lined up around the block as volunteers prepared to begin giving out food boxes with many of the classic Thanksgiving staples.

“They will either get a turkey or a ham and some of the basics in a box for Thanksgiving is cranberry sauce, the dressing, we do have some produce they will get breads and a sweet, “Davison said.

While there was almost a calamity this year when planned donations of turkeys and hams fell through at the last minute, community members and businesses were able to step in and donate a number of turkeys and hams to be given away.

Davison said The Storehouse typically distributes food boxes each Thursday, and the previous week received 272 cars and provided food for 838 people. Following Tuesday’s distribution, Davison said that number was 260 cars and 922 people served.

Kyle Douglas, CCCHS head baseball coach, said every baseball player that stayed in town for the holiday was on hand to help out Tuesday.

“We talk all the time about how we are in the business of creating quality young men and not just quality ballplayers,” Douglas said. “Part of the reason for doing that and part of the method for doing that is helping them realize the world is a little bit bigger than you and the way that we can do that is by pouring into other people and showing some servant leadership.”

Senior center fielder and pitcher Jayden Fellers said he was enjoying helping out at The Storehouse Tuesday morning.

“Essentially, it is to get these guys in here to understand serving the community and servant leadership, that is a big staple in our program, understanding that,” he said.

Davis McKenzie, a sophomore who plays infield and pitcher said he enjoyed being able to do something positive in the community.

“I think it is just a really good thing that we are being able to get out here and volunteer in the community, especially doing stuff that can help other people who are less fortunate,” McKenzie said.

Senior catcher and outfielder Brendon Sheppard said it feels good to be able to give back something to a community that supports the baseball team.

“They definitely support us, so it is a great chance for us to give back and just to help out the community we live in,” he said.

Clinton Vincent, a manager at Walmart in Manchester was also on hand with other Walmart managers from throughout the region to help out Tuesday.

“A couple of years ago we wanted to see how we could get involved in the community and we met with Staria and we decided we would start helping here with the food bank,” Vincent said. “This year we did something different, we made packages for customers to purchase, so they were able to purchase them and we delivered them this morning, I think we had 175.”