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RHEMA Ministries Helps FAF
Tom Henry, executive director of Feed America First, shares a word with a volunteer picking up food for RHEMA Ministries in Savannah, during food distribution at Petra Ministries in Selmer, Tenn., on Thursday, July 14, 2011. Two volunteers from the Jack Gean Shelter in Savannah load the truck.
Feed America First now helps feed more than 20,000 families each month, but that harvest has grown from a tiny seed planted 11 years ago in Savannah, Tenn., with the help of RHEMA Ministries.
Shortly after Tom Henry and Don Herbert founded Feed America First, RHEMA Executive Director Jim Reed offered them a building, the use of his truck, and the men in his shelter to work as volunteers. He also offered up his food and agency contacts for use by the fledgling hunger relief agency.
"It took Jim's collaboration and encouragement to launch Feed America First into food distribution," Henry said. "Prior to Jim, we had ideas, but no application; with Jim's help, Feed America First was able to distribute 600,000 pounds of food in 2001."
Now RHEMA is one of nearly 250 organizations that Feed America First supplies with food each month. Feed America First is headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., and operates out of a 16,000 square foot warehouse in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
"I saw how he was using his spare time to help feed children, so I knew he must have a heart for the hungry, so I wanted to help him," Reed said. "We used to get food from Second Harvest, but we had to pay for that, so it was a huge blessing when Tom started bringing food all the way from Murfreesboro to pass out here."
RHEMA was one of about 60 organizations that picked up food from Feed America First during its monthly food drop in Selmer, Tenn., on July 14. Although it started as a soup kitchen, RHEMA is now a homeless shelter for men recovering from alcohol and drug abuse, and holds six men at a time.
During the July distribution, Feed America First supplied about 27,000 pounds of food, free of charge, much of which made its way to Savannah and Hardin County through 15 organizations: RHEMA Ministries, the Jack Gean Shelter, Savannah First Assembly, Christian Assistance Ministries, First Church of God, Graham Chapel, Hope Ministries, Living Word Fellowship, New Life United Pentacostal Church, Sharon Baptist Church, Soulman Ministries, Souls Reaching Souls, St. Mark's Missionary Baptist Church, Tenn. Valley Teen Challenge and Victory Christian Fellowship.
Together, those agencies helped feed about 620 families in Hardin County with the food provided by Feed America First.
Feed America First helps feed families in 80 counties across Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama through its partnership with agencies like RHEMA Ministries.
Feed America First is headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., and operates out of its Murfreesboro, Tenn., feed distribution center.
Feed America First has been able to provide enough food for 12-15 meals for every dollar donated, and its overhead costs are kept below 10 percent, placing it among the most efficient charities in the country.
Volunteers are needed at the Selmer food drop at 9 a.m. on the second Thursday of every month, at Petra Ministries, located at 393 S. Sixth St., Selmer, Tenn.
