Leah went through the line,
ordered, then paid for her food and the food for the car behind her. “I kept
wrestling with what God wanted me to do,” said Lead, “I kept looking in the
rearview mirror thinking ‘they probably know you, Lord; what difference does it
make if I tell them You wanted me to do this?’” As Leah parked to wait for her
breakfast, the car behind her pulled up.
Enter Deb, shopkeeper at Common
Things Thrift Store. Deb rolled down her window and thanked Leah. The two began
talking and their introductions quickly turned into a budding partnership
between two philanthropists.
Deb and Keith, executive director
of Common Heart, had considered opening a second food pantry but were not sure
how to make it happen. Leah had two
spare classrooms at June Bugs and a desire to get involved. The community
needed more help. The idea for JB ACTS was born.
Fast forward to April 3, 2012. JB
ACTS is open for its sixth Tuesday food distribution. “We were slammed within
the first 15 minutes!” said Keith. Community members walk into the June Bugs
prayer room, adorned with a large cross that once stood at The Commonplace
Prayer Trail and positive messages on chalkboard painted walls, to receive
government commodities, baked goods and fresh produce.
“The people that come through
here are very thankful,” said Elise, a Common Heart volunteer since July of
2011, “and we [the volunteers] are like one big, happy family!” Elise and the
other Common Heart volunteers have formed friendships with the people they help
at JB ACTS, Common Things and Common Cupboard – and that is the
goal of Common Heart.
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