Community Alliance Church holds food giveaways

Havre Community Alliance Church is hosting a free food giveaway series on Wednesdays.

It is on a first-come, first-serve basis Wednesdays from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on 925 Eighth Street in the back parking lot.

"The food giveaway is an opportunity for Community Alliance Church to be an extension of God's hands and feet to the Havre community and beyond by helping support those in our community that may benefit from the food," said Lori Takawira, wife of Community Alliance Church Pastor Munyaradzi Takawira. "We have partnered with 180 Disaster Relief out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as a part of the Farmers to Families Federal Grant opportunity, which purchases food from farmers across the nation and makes it available to communities that might benefit from it."

She said Farmers to Families works in coalition with other organizations and distributors across the United States.  

The coalition has provided more than four million boxes across the United States in the first three-and-a-half months of the grant, she said. 

"The food distribution has been a team effort. Several community members and other churches have partnered with us to provide volunteers and a forklift to make the distribution possible," Takawira  said. "Havre Community Alliance Church has distributed close to 5,000 20-pound food boxes within the community within the last three weeks.  We are grateful to all of our volunteers and those who have partnered with us to make this possible."  

She said the church is doing this because it is a caring church family that wants to make a difference in the community by being an extension of God's hands and feet by helping to meet the practical needs of  community members during these uncertain times. 

"As a church, we believe that we can all make a difference one person at a time," she added. "In these challenging and uncertain times, it is important that people know we care.  It is also important because we are helping to meet the practical needs of our community. Havre is a community that is well-known for supporting one another."

The church has distributed food for three weeks, and Wednesday is the end of Phase 2 of the Farmers to Families Grant, she said.

If approved for Phase 3 of the Grant, she said, the next food giveaway will include a variety of meat and cheese boxes and produce boxes starting in October.  

"We hope to receive confirmation of Phase 3 of the grant within the next couple of weeks," Takawira said.

In the midst of COVID-19, she said, the church has made the necessary adjustments to cope with restrictions.

She said as a church, they have learned that social distancing does not necessarily mean social isolation.  

"In these difficult and uncertain times, it is important that we maintain some form of human connection and fellowship," she said. We have been open for services since the end of April honoring social distancing guidelines."  

 "Amidst these unprecedented times, God has been very gracious and faithful, and we are grateful that our church has continued to flourish," Takawira added.