Gwinnett food co-op hopes to expand

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?

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Vino Wong / vwong@ajc.com

Laura Drake is the new director of the The Southeast Gwinnett Community Cooperative Ministry.

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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.

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“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.