9 June 2025, 9:07 a.m. MDT
On May 16, 2025, a report stated that 1 in 5 children experience food insecurity in Texas. A food pantry posted on its social media that same day about its empty shelves. Meanwhile in Oklahoma, thrift clothing stores also reported empty shelves after severe flooding hit the area in late April. The need for clothes and food was great, but the supplies ran thin.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded by donating 30,000 pounds of food for food pantries in Texas and 18,500 pounds of clothes for thrift stores throughout Oklahoma on May 21.
Delisa Jones, owner of one of the thrift stores that received a donation, said in an interview: “That is the whole goal. We meet each person’s needs and let them know how much we love them.”
‘The need is great, but our God is so much greater’
Minnie’s Food Pantry and All Community Outreach are nonprofit food pantries with focuses on feeding people who don’t have food. Cheryl Jackson, the owner of Minnie’s, was once in need herself. When she established the pantry she promised God that as long as there is food, she will continue to serve those who are hungry, according to a video she filmed in her center.
When Jackson posted about the bare shelves and asked for donations on May 16, less than a week later the Church responded with a truck from Salt Lake City with 20,000 pounds of food in boxes for Minnie’s Food Pantry and 10,000 pounds for All Community Outreach.
With 5.4 million Texans reporting food insecurity in a FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth news report, Jackson said in a video with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “the need is great, but our God is so much greater that He touches your heart to say hunger is unacceptable in our community.”
‘You hope that it goes far’
On the same day of the food donation, the Church donated 18,500 pounds of nearly new clothing to 12 thrift clothing stores all over Oklahoma, according to a local news article. The semitrailer truck of clothes unloaded at Second Chances Thrift Store, and 13 missionaries from the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission helped sort the hundred pound bales of clothes to all the stores.
“There’s somewhere close to 30,000 to 32,000 pieces of clothing,” said Fred Morice, an area welfare specialist for the Church. This shipment is the first time Oklahoma has received a clothing truck, and it was packed with men’s, women’s and children’s clothes to help those affected by severe flooding in late April.
“It’s one of those things that you hope that it goes far enough to help everyone that’s aware of it and has a need,” said Morice.
John 13:35
In John 13:35, Jesus says true disciples can be identified by their love toward others. A member of the community posted on social media about how the Church members and the donation centers are examples of this.
“It takes an entire community to love on the lost, the broken and the people who need to be feeling seen and loved,” Jones said.
Jackson gave advice for those that feel overwhelmed with the task of serving the community. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
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