Live Oak: Small in stature, mighty in purpose

WHITE OAK – In ancient times something was written about the very small in size which thought itself insignificant for almost 4,000 years. Until it was prophesied, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands…”

And then… Christ was born there.

Scott Hubbard in desiringgod.org said, “Christians worship a big God with a big mission that will one day reach this whole big world. Yet for all of his bigness, our God has a remarkable love for the small.”

We are also instructed to never despise our day of small beginnings.

In the northernmost regions of Bladen County a small work has begun and the ripples are being felt all over the region. At the Live Oak United Methodist Church in White Oak, there was a brainstorming session where Pastor Mark Gustafson asked his small group of congregants to write down ideas for how they could reach out and be missionaries to their world. Two of the ideas were for a food pantry and a clothing rack.

Little did they know, the church would fill up quickly with this powerful ministry and it would become, the Neighboring Heart Ministry Food Pantry and Clothes Closet.

According to warmnc.org, Gustafson is “a former engineer with 20 years of experience in Structural Engineering with a primary focus on bridge design and inspection, Mark is now an ordained pastor in The United Methodist Church. Having finished seminary in June of 2020, Mark has served in Bladen County ever since. He is the lead pastor at three churches in the area. He is excited to see where God leads all of us within this community through the work of WARM, for by lending a helping hand to those in need within our community, we are following our Lord’s call for our lives.”

He’s a pastor who is not only skilled in bridge design and inspection, but through the Neighboring Heart Ministry Food Pantry and Clothes Closet, he has proven that he is also skilled in spiritual bridge design for his communities.

“This pantry showed up when two refugees from this Methodist affiliation came to this church,” said Live Oak UMC volunteer and congregant, Lisa O’Donnell. “Mark (Gustafson) looked at me and said, ‘You’re on another pantry and you’ve done this for a while, haven’t you?’”

He then asked her if she would be willing to work on the newly birthed pantry and she was excited at the opportunity. Her husband of 11 years, Mike O’Donnell who is also a volunteer at the pantry said with a quick Irish wit that they felt as if “thou shalt” came into play at some point. At first, he was surprised to see her passion and commitment dealing with the project.

“Nobody understands the almost unhealthy determination that I have,” she said. “To make sure that people who don’t have it, get it.”

At this point, although it may be a bit of a trek to get to the pantry, there are an influx of people relocating to that area. One of the great problems at this point is visibility. Up until this point, it’s been word-of-mouth. Many don’t know that help is out there. Many more don’t know that they can be vessels to aid in this quest to help in an area that although small, the need is very great.

A small band of volunteers are changing their corner of the world and making a difference in the lives of human beings that, for whatever reason need a little help. Some need a lot of help. And these volunteers are not on duty because they have to or because they are getting paid or because they hope to become rich and famous. They are not there just for two major holidays serving green beans and turkey, not that that’s a bad thing, but they are there twice a week – faithful and standing with a servant’s heart knowing that the work that they are doing is not going unnoticed in the realms of heaven.

It’s a higher calling to “Can you help me?”

At this point, the group has 70 people in need registered and from that registry the volunteers are helping between 8-10 people a day. Although they aren’t feeding five thousand with fish and bread, they are certainly making a difference to individuals in a very rural area where there is not a lot of help to be found.

One of those individuals was a small boy in first grade who was in the pantry recently with his dad and while holding cans of beans and other foodstuffs in their bag, he looked up and said to his father, “Oh boy, dad, we’re going to eat good tonight, aren’t we.”

Whenever you have a child in a pantry making that kind of a statement – all the world needs to stop and hear it.

Running a food pantry in seemingly the middle of nowhere can have its challenges and its rewards.

“It’s just knowing that I’m helping someone… that is important to me,” pantry volunteer Diane Bush said. “They come in and they’re all excited. I’ve noticed that when they come in, they go right to the baby clothes. I always tell them that if it doesn’t fit right now, it will later.”

Everything that comes in – comes in by way of donation. It goes out as a gift. There is no charge for food or clothing at the Live Oak pantry and food rack.

“Our next food drive is coming out of Stedman,” O’Donnell said. “Boy Scout and Cub Scout troop 701 are doing a food drive for us in Stedman this weekend. They will do a food and a money drive. We have also been the lucky recipient of two “creating new economy” grants from resourceful communities which is a division of the conservation fund. Primarily it is a Methodist social welfare fund. We are also going to look at other grants as we expand.”

O’Donnell wrote the first two grants and Joyce Strickland; a volunteer who resides in Elizabethtown is also planning on writing more of the grants. Strickland who is a retired English teacher is excited about diving into grant writing.

“We need the grant to help buy the food,” Strickland said. “Then we will take turns going grocery shopping. We really got to the point where someone was shopping every week. That’s how much we are going through. The last two Christmas’ we also did the advent calendars. Three different churches did an Advent food box so we got a lot of food donated that way. With the clothes, people found out about it and have been cleaning out and spring cleaning and if they don’t know where to take things, I always say that we’ll take it. The clothes have really blossomed to more than what we thought. In fact, we are running out of space for that.”

The only requirement for clothing donations is that the items be washed and lightly worn.

“We are also one of the few food banks that has pet foods,” Strickland said. “Mostly because we are all pet owners. We also give out paper goods, hygiene products, dish detergent, detergent, shampoo, soap and toothpaste.”

There is a reason that the group provides a lot of items that many pantries wont.

“Food stamps and assistance programs won’t cover those items,” O’Donnell said. “And you still have to keep your house clean and you’ve still got to keep yourself clean. And if you have an animal, they still have to be fed.”

Other than just rooms for the food pantry and one for the clothing racks, there are also other rooms in the church that have been unutilized for storage, and because of the growing popularity, the building itself is becoming “smaller” as the nursery has been utilized for storage and also an office.

“We are busting out of space,” Strickland said. “We need both actually, more food and more space. As for expanding hours, I rather doubt it, because another great need is for volunteers. There’s so few of us working. We have reached out to other churches and we have had a lot interest in people wanting to come and help, but nothing yet.”

The small group is determined and they all have a passionate commitment level. The down-side is that the entire project is now run by only eight individuals. They up-side is that they all consider it their ministry.

“At the point that your heart breaks, you become missional,” O’Donnell said. “A lot of people will not relate to it until something directly affects them. Or they may see somebody they know that has been directly affected. It’s hard to see an eight-month-old does not need to be sleeping shelter next to her mother and her father sleeping outside in the churchyard across the street because it’s a women’s only shelter.”

It’s then when you go from saying “It’s not my ministry to how can I help?”

Or the little girl who was asked, “I bet your mom is all excited about helping you with the baby.” To which the girl replied, “I don’t have one of those,” referring to having a mother.

The Neighboring Heart Ministry Food Pantry and Clothes Closet is on the grow and as they grow, they will undoubtedly go through some growing pains and have a lot of needs. They are in need of more freezer space, another refrigerator, extra shelving to keep the food off the floor in case of a flood and so much more.

The heartbreaker in this ministry for the O’Donnell’s has been the fact that there is more need that hasn’t found them yet.

Looking at this Gideon group fighting a mighty battle is inspiring, and looking at them, one of the great unspoken needs and most offered prayers is, “Lord, let others come and find their ministry.”

Live Oak United Methodist Church Neighboring Heart Ministry Food Pantry and Clothes Closet address: – 832 Live Oak Methodist Church Rd, White Oak, NC 28399

Phone: 910-703-5093

Hours: Tuesday and Saturday 10 a.m. – noon

While in Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon’s wife, Jennie Gordon created a “Hunger Initiative” during COVID that helped to keep the children going hungry in a great time of need. Aspirations are being developed here in North Carolina to follow suit and find a way to create our own hunger initiative. The video that was done in 2023 at the Wyoming Governor’s Mansion sheds light on a groundbreaking idea concerning hunger in your own state can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KV9xvYJluA&t=990s