Donation provides ‘answer to a prayer’ for Urban Mission

JustServe brings 35,000 pounds of food to Steubenville

STEUBENVILLE -- Kevin Mahoney said he has driven tractor-trailers full of food to several locations around the country.

A delivery he made Thursday morning will help ensure area residents are able to provide meals for themselves and their families.

The JustServe truck he had brought from Salt Lake City to Steubenville carried more than 35,000 pounds of nonperishable food for Urban Mission Ministries.

“As drivers, we go out and make deliveries to these food banks for the less fortunate people,” Mahoney, who lives in Salt Lake City, said. “They need help in this world, and with today’s economy, it’s a huge help. It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to come out and to serve the people here. There’s nothing more we drivers like than to see the blessings it gives to people.”

The shipment was one of 250 donations being made across the country as part of a collaboration among JustServe and America250’s America Gives, volunteers, local leaders and community organizations to help support families who are facing hunger. JustServe is the community service platform sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that works to help individuals and organizations strengthen their communities through serving together.

“This is a blessing that we can’t even begin to understand,” said the Rev. Kimberly Arbaugh, executive director of the Urban Mission. “It’s been so long since we have been able to provide full meals for our clients, to actually be able to provide them with goods so they can go home and cook an actual meal for their children. I think this is just totally a God thing.”

The program began in October and will eventually reach locations in all 50 states as part of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration. It’s in keeping with the mission of the church, officials said.

“This work reflects our commitment to help individuals through principles of self-reliance and service,” Blaine Maxfield, managing director of welfare and self-reliance services for the church, said in a written statement. “These programs are far-reaching and rooted in compassion, designed to lift individuals, families and communities during times of greatest need. This work happens one by one. Following the example of Jesus Christ, we strive to love our neighbor. Each of us can have an impact in our communities through service.”

Like Arbaugh, Flora VerStraten-Merrin, a member of the local church, explained that the shipment was an answer to a prayer. Before Thursday morning, the pantry area on an upper floor of the Urban Mission had been empty. The delivery changed that.

“Now it’s going to be full,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “Talk about timing -- that’s an important part. It was truly a God-send, an answer to a prayer.”

All of the food, she explained, is produced by companies in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, and it includes flour, pasta, peanut butter, beans, jams and jellies. When the empty truck left Steubenville, it was headed to Canton, where it was going to pick up a load of empty cans to take back west to be filled.

The delivery fell on the day the United Way of Jefferson County held its annual Day of Action, which meant there were additional volunteers on hand to assist in moving all of the donated food around the warehouse. The extra help came in handy -- because the organization’s freight elevator is not working, each box from every pallet had to be moved up the 23 stairsteps to the pantry by hand.

Among the volunteers who made that happen were employees of TreVida Healthcare and Isabelle Colon and Ava Brown, seniors at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Colon, who is from Woodbridge, Va., and Brown, who is from Syracuse, N.Y., said they were happy to be able to help with the project.

Arbaugh said she was surprised when she learned her agency had been selected to receive one of the shipments. VerStraten-Merrin said the process actually began when her husband, Buddy Merrin, was attending a meeting in Pittsburgh at which officials were trying to decide where the delivery should be made.

Buddy said the shipment was needed in Jefferson County, he and Flora got Beth Rupert-Warren, the community service coordinator of the Jefferson County Resource Network, involved and the Urban Mission ended up as the recipient.

“This food will help a lot of people in ways that we will not even begin to imagine today, and we will reap benefits for days to come and months to come,” Arbaugh said. “This amount of food coming in, and the fact that it has a long expiration date on it because it is all dry goods means that we can truly ration how we are able to give this out to our clients and make sure that there is good food that they can cook with on a consistent basis, and not just have this windfall today and then it’s gone tomorrow -- we can use this for weeks and weeks.

“We are very blessed that we are able to get produce through the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, but it has a very short shelf life,” Arbaugh added. “This is going to be helpful for a long time. We’re very lucky. This a very huge blessing.”