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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Annie Burgess, center, a lifelong resident of the Rosedale community, picks out different goods during the biweekly food pantry at Union Missionary Baptist Church.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Sonja Richardson, left, and Lisa Stewart carry a bag of food to a neighbor’s house at Union Missionary Baptist Church during the biweekly food pantry April 25.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Residents of the Rosedale community gather for the biweekly food pantry.
When Janice Jackson lost her job and her son was in the hospital, the food pantry in Rosedale helped ensure that she was able to put food on the table.
“It just really, really helped me,” Jackson said.
Now that she has a job, she also volunteers at the pantry, and her husband helps out on Saturdays. The pantry provides food to those in need at Rosedale’s Union Missionary Baptist Church. Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church and Homewood Community Church are the main providers of the food, said organizer Kelly Patrick.
Josephine Jerald has been coming to the pantry for three years and said its success is because of the Lord.
“It started with prayer,” Jerald said. “I think that prayer makes it grow.”
The pantry began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a group of people, including Patrick and Kathy Hand, started leaving non-perishable items in a small bookcase in front of Hannah Kate Clothing, located on BM Montgomery Street. They noticed in the morning that all the food was gone, and they realized people began lingering, waiting for food.
Tom Franklin, founder of Homewood Community Church, met with Union’s pastor, Rev. Edward Steele, and talked about using Union’s space for the pantry. There are usually between 15 and 20 people at the pantry, but there have been up to 75 people, Patrick said. At Christmas, organizers fed 60 families.
The pantry has become like a family, meeting for prayer, Bible study and more. On the 60th anniversary of the writing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the group met at Spring Park and had a large picnic, Patrick said.
“We live life together,” she said.
The group took time at a recent meeting to go around and share prayer needs and talked about their time growing up in Rosedale.
“We didn’t know what we didn’t have,” Louise Malone said. “We were not poor. We were rich with love. I wouldn’t have wanted to be brought up any place else.”
Patrick said the pantry recently became a nonprofit and is working to become more independent with help from those who want to donate.
“It’s a blessing that flows both ways,” she said.
Items donated include fruit, bread, canned goods, lotion, drinks, vegetables and more.
Patrick said the pantry continues to grow as more and more people hear about it.
“God just keeps growing it,” she said. “It’s because God’s done this thing.”
The group meets Tuesdays and Saturdays, and people will come and serve with their families to make sure everyone gets what they need.
“It’s really opened up my whole world,” Patrick said.
When the pantry began in March 2020, it wasn’t long before the murder of George Floyd created racial tension throughout the country. Patrick said the group was committed to helping one another, holding hands and praying together.
“It opened my eyes to see a beautiful community I drove by all the time,” Patrick said. “It’s where I’ve seen Jesus in a way I’ve never seen him before.”
Patrick said she thought the pantry would only last a few weeks, but now she doesn’t think it will ever stop.
Stacey Kaufman, Patrick’s sister, said it is a “blessing” to be able to help others.
And for those who can’t make it, people like Jerald take extra food to cook for others.
The Rosedale Food Pantry is now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and anyone can contribute. For those wishing to help or obtain food, the group meets Tuesdays and Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. at Union Missionary Baptist Church, with the group gathering at 11 a.m. to talk. The church is located at 1731 26th Ave. S.
