One Church Street
Nourishing Our Community
An update on our “Miracle” campaign for Dec – Jan–you helped us raise $99,103 towards our Community Kitchen project!! That IS a miracle, isn’t it?
Here’s the sneaky news–we can call it a miracle, but we know where EVERY dollar comes from, we know all the generosity and hard work that is behind this project–so the “Miracle” is us–you and me. Have you ever thought of yourself as being part of a miracle, as being the answer to someone’s prayers, as meeting the deepest needs of your community?
When I listen to the phone messages and I hear someone sobbing that she cannot feed her family–the food we provide is a miracle for her. (Happened this week)
When family members need to live in a shared space, and the cost of groceries makes it impossible to nourish everyone, including children, our Pantry is part of a miracle. (Happens all the time)
When someone is not able to cook or provide hot meals for themselves, and they can have take out meals from NOAH that will last the better part of a week–that is a miracle. (Happens every Sunday)
But the real miracle is our community, all of us reaching outside our comfort zones and working together to provide an equality of nourishment–please hear this– that is a miracle. WE are the miracle.
Let’s keep being miraculous for each other.
And thank you. Your miraculous generosity never goes unnoticed
We’ve had some great things happen today at OCS–the Johnstown Senior Center brought us SIX full bags of food they collected. I gave a building tour to Martha, a local resident who wants to find out where she can help.
And then, just as I was about to post all this good news, Kelli let me know: “Oh, by the way, we made the Challenge.” Wait. What? Hello?? Did you say….?
Oh yes she did! We received $6500 in the mail today to apply to our Challenge. You can see the final number below with the extra $10,000 given by our anonymous donor. (I’m going to ask these donors if we can print their names, so hopefully you’ll see that info in a future post.) We love doing a shout-out to our community partners. We love HAVING community partners!
I need to be honest. I was a little bit disgruntled today. I worry about things. I worry about whether the heat works, if our neighbors are able to get to the Food Pantry, what sermon I’m going to preach on Sunday…oh, the list is endless, my friends!!! So I wasn’t particularly in an upbeat mood. It happens, right? But this Challenge was one of my worries. How can I tell people we still haven’t reached the goal? How CAN we reach the goal?
And the answer is have hope, have faith. There is a plan at work bigger than the one my little brain can come up with, and I have faith that our goal of nourishing our neighbors in our Community Kitchen is going to happen.
We will do it because you continue to be generous, to be compassionate, to care about your entire community, because this kitchen is going to be a community game-changer. How?
Food is Medicine classes for better health. Cooking demos from local celebrity chefs (I’m talking about YOU, Megan!) Bridal showers. Birthday parties. Coffee gatherings. Paint and sips. Meetings. Small concerts. Again–the list is endless. What do you want to see happen in our Community Kitchen? I’ll be asking people and posting, but you can post your answer below.
Dream big. We are just getting started, thanks to YOU!
You did this! Thank you for your donations, your support, your enthusiasm, your commitment and the way you care for your neighbor, our Feed the Need tree raised $10,456 for the OCS Food Pantry.
We’ll keep the tree up for another week if you want to come in and have your pic taken in front of the tree–donors, supporters–I’d love a gallery of pics that speak to the joy we share as we continue to nourish our community together!
This is something for us to be aware of as we move forward–the federal government is no longer going to be tracking Food Insecurity stats for the nation, announced on September 20, 2025. These statistics have proven essential for us to understand the changes that have occurred over the last 30 years of record-keeping.
“The most recent report found that in 2023, 13.5 percent of households, with 47 million people, were food insecure, meaning that during some portion of the year, not every member of household had access to enough food for a healthy lifestyle.”
NOTE: In Fulton County that figure is 25%–or one in four people, including 1 in 5 children. (I would boldface this if I could, but I can’t!!)
This is an important marker for us, and our hope is that organizations like Feeding America will help pick up the task of keeping these statistics.
We know what we see in our Pantry:
People ARE hungry.
SNAP benefits have been reduced.
The need is GREATER than ever as we register NEW families EVERY week.
What you can do:
Continue to support local pantries–our neighbors are depending on us!
Watch the latest snippet from our Food is Medicine pre-diabetes and diabetes management workshop through One Church Street in partnership with MVP and Nathan Littauer Hospital and lead by Dr. Sara Brown, DPT, CNS. The topic is fiber!
WAMC spoke with world renowned artist, and Art to Table donor artist, John Van Alstine, OCS Steering committee member, Nancy Brown, and Rev. Laurie Garramone about One Church Street and the art auction supporting the OCS Community Kitchen. Listen here: Johnstown nonprofit partnering with local artists to fund community kitchen
July 31, 2025 – We’re in the news! ‘Food is Medicine’ series empowers community residents with nutritious cooking skills
After reading the article, watch our video below to learn more about the Community Kitchen.
Use our QR code to bring you where you want to be – fast.
Food Insecurity, which essentially means not knowing where your next meal is coming from, is a pressing problem in Fulton County. The rate of food insecurity is growing in our county, and ranks as one of the highest in the state. Currently, one out of every four families lives with food insecurity.
One Church Street 