DEL.ICIO.USGwinnett food co-op hopes to expand
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Laura Drake checked the shelves at the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry. There was one box, packed and ready for a family, and a handful of canned goods. Soon, she knew, people would enter the doors, seeking assistance.
What to do?
Vino Wong / vwong@ajc.com
Laura Drake is the new director of the The Southeast Gwinnett Community Cooperative Ministry.
Vino Wong / vwong@ajc.com
Larry White, right, volunteer and board member at the Co-op collects food from Bud Kushman and his wife Ginney.
“Well, we prayed, and it was amazing,” said the 41-year-old former accountant and stay-at-home mom. Of the 33 people who visited the co-op that day, only a few needed food, and she was able to get through the day without turning anyone away.
Like similar organizations, the Southeast Gwinnett Co-op in Grayson is feeling the effects of the tight economy. The ministry sent out a plea to pastors in the Snellville, Grayson and Loganville area this week, seeking more donations.
Dan Yoest, president of the co-op board, said the operation has been serving about 135 to 150 families a month (about 500 family members). “But here in the last month, it has jumped significantly,” he said.
The co-op helped 517 people in the first two weeks of August — double recent levels.
“I’ve never seen it this busy,” said the Rev. Matt Henning, pastor of Community of Grace, a Lutheran church on whose grounds the co-op operates.
But Henning and Yoest are optimistic about the co-op, partly because it is finally returning to the level of service it experienced before it was forced to close its doors and seek a new home two years ago. And largely because of Drake, a Snellville resident and Tucker native who became co-op director July 31.
For seven years, Drake volunteered for the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry. Her move to the Southeast Gwinnett Co-op was a calling, she said. Having stayed at home to raise her 11-year-old son, Austin, and 5-year-old daughter, Katie, she was thinking what she would do when Katie starts kindergarten this year. A neighbor mentioned the need for a director at the co-op.
“It kind of resonated with me,” she said. “The timing is right, and it was like the Lord trained me at Lawrenceville.”
If every member of the churches supporting the co-op gave one can of food a week and $1 per month, the co-op could serve the community “in a mighty way,” Drake said.
Drake wants to help those in need and not turn anyone away, but she has longer-term goals, too — ones that involve the co-op’s location, space, work flow and mission.
“This is not just a job for me. I believe it is why I am on this Earth at this time,” she said.
