http://www.thebattlecreekshopper.com BATTLE CREEK SHOPPER NEWS Thursday, June 27, 2024 5
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Grandfather
ClocksA brand new building houses the Love They Neighbor Food Pantry, part of the
Neighborhood Food Pantry Ministries in Battle Creek. Pictured with volunteers
are builders from Norris Construction. (Shopper News photo by Shelly Kehrle-Sulser) See PANTRY on 9‘Love Thy Neighbor’ food pantry reopens at new location
SHELLY KEHRLE-SULSER
Executive Editor
The Love Thy Neighbor Food
Pantry is open at a new location
every Monday from 3-6 p.m. and
every Wednesday and Friday from 9
a.m. to noon now that a brand new
building on Battle Creek Friends
Church property at 1349 E. Michigan
Avenue is complete.
Church members, pantry volun-
teers, builders and Neighborhood
Food Pantry Ministries affiliates
attended the June 8 grand opening
that included a ribbon cutting, cook-
out and open house.
The pantry, now under the leader-
ship of Sharon Johnson, is part of the
Neighborhood Food Pantry Ministry
which was organized under the aus-
pices of In One ACCORD in 1992.
The five pantries opened their
doors under that designation on Nov.
2, 1992 and in 1999, the pantries
became independent under the fidu-
ciary umbrella of the Battle Creek
Community Foundation.
Love Thy Neighbor Ministries, the
sixth to join the group, opened in
May 2014 under the direction of the
late Fred Lutzke who coordinated the
pantry down the street from the new
location until he died in 2022.
“We more than anything, want to
continue his legacy,” said Johnson,
who had been a volunteer.
In fact, Johnson said she met with
Lutzke on the Friday before he died
and offered to do anything she could
to help with the pantry.
“He said, ‘if you’re going to do
what you said,’” she recalled, “‘then
you’re a godsend.’ And, he passed
away on Sunday. I didn’t get a
chance to meet back up with him to
get all of the details but the board
that manages this asked me if I
would do it. And I said, ‘sure.’”
Johnson, a member of Battle Creek
Friends Church on Olive Street,
said the previous location on East
Michigan Avenue was larger but cre-
ated logistical issues.
“We didn’t have a garage door for
bringing in the groceries,” she said.
“One of the things that we did do
in our old building, we had to park
out front and carry everything in. So
now we have a garage door which is
very nice for loading and unloading.”
Jonson explained that the new
location has been owned by Friends
Church for 30 years and made the
offer to construct the new pantry
location.
Dave Norris was the builder.
“They knew they were going to do
something with it. They didn’t know
what it was going to be and along
came the food pantry. And we’re
like, ‘we need a different space,’”
said Jonson. “And they said, ‘Let’s
build a new building. And so we did.
And so here we are.”
The building not only houses the
pantry but space for church outreachto the elderly, victims of human
trafficking and people with mental
health issues.
“The square footage, not counting
the counseling offices and the cloth-
ing closet is 3,000 square feet,” said
Johnson. “That entire building was
9,800 square feet but it was space
that was around the corner and over
here and down the basement so
logistically this is a smaller space but
it’s more efficient space. And this
building is incredibly efficient with
LED lights, good insulation in the
walls, the doors are all sealed and
it’s air conditioned.”
Love Thy Neighbor Pantry stocks
its shelves with locally sourced fresh
vegetables, dairy products, fruits and
meats donated by Sprout in Battle
Creek.
It also receives canned food from
the South Michigan Food Bank
and recently received 3,749 pounds
of food thanks to the U.S. Postal
Service Stamp Out Hunger food