Emmanuel Episcopal Church’s current food distribution program was created in November of 1984 and has gone through several transformations since its founding as a mission outreach program to Greenwood and surrounding areas in Albemarle and Nelson counties. The mission program was established at the suggestion of then rector Howard A. LaRue.
Mr. LaRue was the Greenwood Parish rector from 1969-1995. Greenwood Parish at that time included Holy Cross Church near Batesville and the rector had duties at both churches. Besides Rev. LaRue, the two initial founding leaders of the program were Catherine “Kate” LaRue, the rector’s wife, and Emmanuel Church member Mary Alice Plummer. With Mrs. LaRue as Secretary/Treasurer and Mrs. Plummer as the Food Coordinator and with the support of the Vestry, many other church members rallied immediately to the cause of reaching out to individuals and families in need of food security in the community. Mary Alice Plummer was noted in the 1991 Centennial Edition of the Charlottesville Daily Progress as being a local heroine “who organized and supervised the collection, storage and distribution of enormous quantities of food for poor people.” |
Initially the program was called the Greenwood Parish Bread Fund and food was distributed monthly on the first Saturday of each month from Emmanuel’s parish hall with boxes being delivered to homes of families, shut-ins, and other area churches for distribution. The 1985 records indicate that 76 households were served during the first year. For the first few months the Bread Fund was housed at the Emmanuel Church’s parish hall, but then moved to Holy Cross Church’s parish building, and a bit later to another church building there that had been the home where the mission deaconesses had lived in the early 20th century. The distribution center remained at Holy Cross until 2022 when it moved to its current location adjacent to Emmanuel Church. At times the program has been called the Greenwood Parish Bread Fund, the Emmanuel-Holy Cross Bread Fund, the Emmanuel Bread Fund, and now the Rockfish Gap Food Pantry-A Mission of the Emmanuel Bread Fund.
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When the Bread Fund was initially established it was supported only by gifts of food and monetary donations from the Emmanuel and Holy Cross congregations in addition to all the many volunteer hours of their congregants. Soon after the program was begun food began to be purchased from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank as an Agency Partner and still remains so today. Recipients of USDA food must provide income statements to qualify for the program. In the very beginning of the mission other items such as bedding and linens, clothing, fans, firewood, and help with medications were also provided as needed. Delivery of boxes to individual homes was discontinued in 1986 as the distribution center had then moved to Holy Cross Church. Cooperation and input from local housing agencies, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, Hospice, County Social Services, Head-Start, Meals on Wheels, and other individual churches helped to spread the knowledge about this new ministry of Greenwood Parish.
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