“We don’t do what we do without people like you. We know where our blessings come from,” Mike Fortney with Center of Hope recently said to the Rotary Club of Livingston. “It started in the 80s with a small food pantry and five partner churches and now have 16 partner churches. It started off with one small ministry and now we have seven different ones,” Fortney said.
“We partner with Southeast Texas Food Bank and have been upgraded to platinum level, so we also serve other areas as well,” Fortney said, adding, “the pantry is probably the bread and butter of our ministry.
“We have a cancer support ministry and have about 80 clients. Most don’t have problem paying for the treatment, it’s the getting back and forth to doctor appointments, gas, parking and sometimes food. We have an emergency health ministry where we help with gas back and forth, prescriptions, medical equipment. We see about 20-25 patients per month,” Fortney said.
“About 90% of our Campaign 300 is paying utility bills because someone’s out of work or sick.
We work to keep the lights on,” he said.
“As for disaster response, there’s a couple things the county’s asked us to do. I’m the volunteer coordinator, and the other big function is handling private donations coming in. We post online what the needs are for the community and people see that and donations come rolling in. It helps with recovery,” Fortney said.
“We also have a bus ministry. Brazos Transit District donated a bus and we probably make 30 trips a month. If they can’t get out, we deliver food to them,” he said. “However, it’s nice to talk to people when they come in, so we can get a sense of their needs.
“Christmas is coming up and we have Christmas of Hope which was formerly the Empty Stocking fund. Just like our pantry, it’s a toy choice program. We will operate two different weekends and we’re expanding our hours this year,” Fortney said.
“Christmas of Hope took registration for children 18 and under the entire month of November. We will have people to help them shop, then we’ll have a gift-wrapping ministry where people come in and wrap for four hours,” he said.
“We have about 60 full time volunteers and there’s only one person that draws a salary and that’s the lady that comes in and cleans the bathrooms,” he said.
Asked about ongoing budget cuts and how that may affect Polk County or Center of Hope, Fortney said, “We have five or six times the buying power through the Southeast Texas Food Bank and there are three pantries in our area that draw from the Southeast Texas Food Bank and every pantry has seen their numbers shift a little bit. We used to see 1,000 families a month, now we’re seeing about 800. We’re also seeing a drop in the Hispanic population.
“However, we have had three unasked-for food raising events that brought in a lot for us. There was the big one at Walmart where we received about 12,000 pounds. Gentiva Hospice did a drive at HEB and we received about 2,000 pounds and we received about 3,000 pounds from the purse bingo event,” Fortney said.
“As these events were happening, the local businesses came through. Our businesses around here are just amazing supporters. As for disaster response, we haven’t seen the turmoil as in recent years with the flooding and tornadoes, but we would receive pallets of cleaning supplies and bleach. We worked with some generous donors who brought in semis to haul the stuff. We didn’t ask for money, but still received money.
“Also this year, we just finished the cleanup ministry from Beryl and the floods. We have been using the money that was donated and helping people. That’s what’s been keeping us busy. Those accounts are depleted now, but we’re not worried about it. We’re doing good. The shelves are full, the volunteers are coming through the door. Some people have trouble getting volunteers, but not us at Center of Hope,” Fortney said.
“Not all needs are physical though. Some are spiritual. We pray with people. We pray for people. You can never reflect how Jesus treated people, but you can give a smile, a hug. You never know how your actions are going to affect other people. Making people feel welcome, that’s what we try to do,” Fortney said.
