The Well at Centerville operates food pantry, clothing closet for those in need

CENTERVILLE, Ga. – The season of giving is year-round at The Well at Centerville.

The local church hosts a drive-thru food pantry every second and fourth Wednesday of the month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a clothing closet every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The closet is also open each Wednesday when the food pantry is open. 

Pastor Tommy Odum said the food pantry started right before COVID-19, and they only handed out a few bags of food, but as the event grew, they soon needed to buy food by the palette. He said now they give out approximately 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of food a month for those in need. 

“People come through and they pick up a portion of food or however many they need in their vehicle for the amount of people that they have. We distribute out of our outreach center; we usually use about 30 volunteers,” said Odum.

He shares that they package all the food, from frozen items to dried goods and breads. The church usually gets items from local grocery stores and buys things from the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank in Macon. 

“We got a great team of people that put it on and do all the work. They put in a lot of effort and time to make it happen,” said Odum. 

The clothing closet is a walk-in style event, and people walk through and pick out the items they need. Odum said many people come in with their children and pick up any clothing they need.

Odum also shares that both events are free and serve everyone, from children to elders. He said they host both events twice monthly to support as many people as possible.

According to Odum, the church served around 300 people last month; on average, they serve 150 to 200 people monthly. 

He said the food pantry has vastly grown since it started; initially, they operated from a closet. Now, they have 40 to 50 cars waiting in the parking lot on Wednesday mornings. 

Odum shares the biggest challenge for the church is to keep up with the pantry financially, which is supported entirely by the church. He said some people come in and make donations, but for the most part, the church keeps up with the pantry and closet.

He said the clothes closet always had space, but it has grown from how many people come and get clothing. Before, they only had five to 10 people who came in a week, and now they have approximately 30 to 40 people who attend a week. 

“Overall, we’ve gone from serving about 20 to 30 people a month to anywhere from 150, around that average that we are serving right now,” said Odum.

He also shared that the clothing closet has given them an excellent opportunity to take donated clothes, as many people have heard about the church and given them donations. People can come in during the church’s office hours between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30; some people even drop them off outside. 

“We get a ton of donations; everything is donated in the clothes closet. We take those and we wash them, we fold them and we put them away. Then, we put more out when we need more. It’s a long process but it works well, and we got a great team that takes care of all that and does all that. It runs really smooth,” said Odum.

He said that when they get more food for the pantry, they go to Macon on Tuesdays and pick up 7,000 to 8,000 pounds of food. Odum shares that the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank now brings in the food they need, and they put it in their outreach center for distribution.

“We get what we can. Sometimes they don’t have meats available or sometimes they don’t have something available so we get what we can, we try to stick with the dry goods because they are not as heavy so we can serve more people. That’s the goal is to serve as many people as we can,” said Odum.

He said there are many reasons why they host these events, and one of them is their call as a church. What God calls them to do is serve their community. 

“It’s a big community and there’s a lot of people here. We feel the need to do that and to serve the community to the best of our abilities and these are just the ways that it organically worked out for us to do that outside of just service and just having a service on Sunday morning. To actually be the hands and feet, there’s a physical aspect of the gospel that calls us to go beyond just the service time of ministry but actually go out and do,” said Odum. “We just try to open up as many opportunities as we can, and these are the things that have taken roots and work on their own and that God has blessed in the past few years. It’s been tremendous and a wonderful opportunity and we do it because we love our community, that’s the bottom line. We love Warner Robins and Centerville, and we believe that God has put the well here to serve the community and that’s what we try to do.”

As a Pastor, Odum hopes these events will help people feel the love of God, and their church helps them feel it. He said they try to spread the message of “love our neighbors” and that God loves them before they even knew Him. 

The Well at Centerville is located at 600 North Houston Lake Boulevard and their office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for donations.

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