In May 2014, the Montgomery City Church of the Nazarene got an opportunity to help out the elderly people in the area and in the state of Missouri.

The church started distributing free Missouri Commodity Supplemental Food Program boxes monthly to residents 60 and older. Food boxes are supplied by the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

“Before then, Patricia Laramore did it at a little store at the corner of Allen and Second streets, right next to the railroad tracks,” said Dee Klekamp, one of the coordinators. “They used to distribute and I don’t know how many years they did it. Patricia was ready to give it up. So when she gave it up, she recommended us as a church to give it out.”

After eight years, the church’s food distribution program is still attracting many people. The food boxes are distributed at the back of the church – located at 1012 S. Sturgeon – from 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. on Wednesday and 9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. on Saturday following the third Tuesday of the month.

“We look forward to it and we really enjoy it,” Klekamp said. “We enjoy meeting and talking to people. A lot of times, they cry on our shoulders, but we listen. We want to have listening ears. Then, if they ask us for prayers, we pray with them. We have a list on Sunday and Wednesday nights and we mention their names on their prayer lists.”

Klekamp and husband Tom, along with interim pastor Stan Hudson, Mack Lewis and Mary Curtis, make up the group that helps distribute food boxes.

“We love it,” said Klekamp, who has been a member of the Church of the Nazarene since 1986. “The thing of it is it’s kind of an outreach program for our church because we get to talk to people and hear about their lives. If they want to, they could share their prayer request with us. All of us who work here really do enjoy coming twice a month to help in this outreach ministry.”

The Missouri Commodity Supplemental Food Program works to improve the health of older persons at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious USDA commodity foods. To get food through CSFP, participants must reside in the state of Missouri, meet income eligibility requirements and have income at or below 130 percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines.

“The bad part about it is a lot of people are slightly over the amount, so they’re not eligible,” Klekamp said. “They might make $50 or $100 more and that puts them out. It’s really sad. Some of them really, really need the food.”

The food boxes include fruit, juices, vegetables, cheese, milk, meat, poultry, peanut butter, beans, cereal and pasta.
“They bring it out on a Tuesday,” Tom Klekamp said. “Then, we open the doors (at the church) and they put it here for us.”

Dee Klekamp said the group started a dinner event for all of the seniors in June.

“So we gave each one of them an invitation for them and their families to come join us for dinner,” she said. “The first dinner we had was a chicken and mostaccioli dinner. All of us brought sides and desserts and different things. We had a nice crowd coming in. Then, we did that again as a holiday dinner in the beginning of December. We had even a bigger crowd that time. These people enjoy coming. In February, Pastor Stan suggested that we should have a Valentine’s Day dinner. So we did one a day before Valentine’s Day."

For more information on the Montgomery City Church of the Nazarene food distribution program, contact the church at 573-564-2735 or Dee Klekamp at 314-348-1460.