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Local ministry gets $7 million
Published October 23, 2005
MOULTRIE — The largest loan awarded by the USDA as part of the president’s faith-based initiative was made official during a ceremonial check presentation to a Monroe-based ministry this week.
Angel Food Ministries received the nearly $7 million check from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and other government dignitaries during a press conference held Tuesday at the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition in Moultrie.. Johanns was attending the expo in order to conduct one of a series of forums currently under way to discuss the upcoming farm bill before Congress.
The federal monies will be used to refinance the ministry’s loan on its warehouse facility at Unisia Drive, as well as the purchase and installation of coolers, freezers and dock levelers for cold storage at the facility. Approximately 23,000-square-feet of space at the warehouse will also be finished for office space.
“We are just so pleased and so proud that the president has put this kind of faith in a church and a ministry in Walton County, Ga.,” said Pastor Joe Wingo, founder and CEO of Angel Food Ministries and pastor of Emmanuel Praise Church. “Angel Food is growing every day, and with the devastation in the Gulf region, our mission has become even more important.”
“This will enable us to serve even more families locally and across the nation,” Wingo added.
A faith-based non-profit organization, Angel Food Ministries started in February 1994 with the sale and distribution of 34 boxes of food in Monroe. Since then, the ministry has grown to serve families in over 30 states with a distribution of 210,000 boxes of food per month.
A box of food from the ministry costs $25 and consists of enough fresh and frozen food items to feed a family of four for a week or a senior citizen for a month.
“This organization has a proven track record in serving families in need,” said F. Stone Workman, state director of USDA Rural Development. “This building renovation should make operations more efficient. This organization will now be able to grow and serve even more families.”
Doug Canup, area director for USDA Rural Development, said the $6,97 million loan was the largest the USDA has done for a faith-based organization under the president’s faith-based initiative, an effort designed to assist churches and ministries as they serve their communities.
In order to receive a community facilities loan of this kind, Canup said, the applicant has to be an established non-profit recognized by the state and IRS, has to be community-based with community support, and has to have a broad-based reach to different groups.
“This is a big deal,” he said. “We have an organization right here in Georgia, in Walton County, that is feeding families in 30 states and now we are helping them expand their ability to serve their local, state and national communities.”
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