Photo by Malcolm Andrews, Crozet Gazette, December 2022

Creating a History of Service

The Emmanuel Bread Fund evolved from a long tradition of volunteer community service by the Emmanuel Episcopal Church congregation.  Emmanuel Episcopal Church was established in Greenwood, Virginia in 1860.  The women of the church in 1871 formed the “Working Society of Emmanuel Church” with the goal being “for the cultivation of social communion among the church members and hearty co-operation in work for the church.”  The women created a monetary fund by sewing and selling handworks at various markets with the money being used to provide the church with items such as altar cloths, communion silver, carriage/horse mounting blocks, and helping families in need within their community including gifts of “eggs, fowls, butter, and provisions of any kind.” This group also became known as the “Ladies Guild.”  In 1894 the name was formally changed to “The Emmanuel Church Greenwood Branch of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions for the Diocese of Virginia.”  This women’s auxiliary helped to provide assistance not only to Emmanuel, but to the surrounding communities as well.  The formation was initiated by Frederick William Neve who at the time was the rector of both Emmanuel Church in Greenwood and St. Paul’s Church in Ivy.

Frederick William Neve’s Legacy Of Mission Work

“Desire to be a thousand times more useful than before.”

Frederick William Neve, undated (University of Virginia Special Collections Library, photo by Petrina Jackson)

Frederick Neve had come from England to jointly serve Emmanuel and St. Paul’s as their rector in 1888.  Within a few years he began visiting people in need who were living isolated lives in the rural areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Ragged Mountains.  He established small mission churches to provide not only religious havens, but social and educational services as well.  Holy Cross Church near Batesville was one of these mission churches that was established in 1900 and consecrated in 1902.  Outreach to neighbors in need became a trademark for Neve earning him the distinction within the Diocese of Virginia as the Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge.  

In 1909 the service name changed yet again to “The Woman’s Auxiliary and Aid Society.”  Over the years the women of the parish continued to raise funds to support various state and local charities such as the Charlottesville Children’s Home, the Children’s Home Society of Virginia, and the Home for Homeless Boys to name just a few.  Money from the sale of handworks, knitting, crocheting, rummage sales, baked goods, church bazaars, and other holiday celebrations helped to fund various outreach and church projects over the years.

The Bread Fund Today

Howard and Kate LaRue (Jubilee- The Emmanuel Family 1860-1985, by Howard LaRue)

Mary Alice Plummer (Jubilee- The Emmanuel Family 1860-1985)

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.
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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.”

Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Batesville (Photo by Margaret Hrabe)

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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Bread Fund workers Jackie Thomsen, Kate LaRue, Jennie Burton, Carol Arnette, Mary Alice Plummer, Donna Goodling, Lacey Varner (Jubilee- The Emmanuel Family 1860-1985)

Bread Fund, Parish Hall at Emmanuel (Jubilee- The Emmanuel Family 1860-1985)

Site for Holy Cross distribution, former home of the mission deaconesses in the early 20th century. (Photo from Holy Cross Facebook)

E. O. Woodson, 2019

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. The volunteer coordinator for many years of the pickup and delivery of the Food Bank materials was E. O. Woodson, a long time Emmanuel parishioner.  

​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.

The Rockfish Gap Food Pantry

Elizabeth Pinkerton Scott (Photo from millercenter.org)

Now in the 21st century with the expansion of other food pantry programs in Albemarle and Nelson Counties, a reduction in the number of families being served by the Bread Fund became a concern.  With the decrease in numbers combined with the somewhat isolated location of Holy Cross Church on Craigs Store Road, a decision was made to move the Bread Fund distribution center from the Batesville church to Scott House adjacent to Emmanuel on the Rockfish Gap Turnpike.  The Scott House is named for Frederic and Elizabeth Scott.  Mrs. Scott was one of the initial early Bread Fund organizers/volunteers and a constant supporter of the program until her death in 2019.

With the move to Scott House the program has a new name.  It  is now The Rockfish Gap Food Pantry - A Ministry of the Emmanuel Bread Fund.  With a more centralized and visible location and expanded floor space at 7585 Rockfish Gap Turnpike, the food pantry opened there in the Fall of 2022.  The current schedule for distribution remains the first Saturday of every month from 9am until 11am.  Clients can choose from a variety of non-perishable food items, frozen meat (including turkeys at Thanksgiving and Christmas), and a variety of fresh produce.  Two other church community programs are also located in Scott House, those being the Crozet Cares Closet of the Crozet Region Interfaith Council Outreach Mission, and Emmanuel’s Clothing Ministry which is affiliated with the Clothing Closet in Charlottesville.  Emmanuel Church’s outreach programs are a vital haven serving many individuals and families in need across the geographic area of the pantry.
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The food pantry is run exclusively by volunteers, many of whom attend Emmanuel Greenwood and Holy Cross churches.

Cindy Kirchner

Nancy Avery

Beyond Distribution Day each month, volunteers help monthly on Restocking Day filling the shelves at 10am on the 2nd Wednesday of the month.  Emmanuel parishioners Cindy Kirchner and Nancy Avery have contributed much time and energy for many years both at Holy Cross Church and now at the new Rockfish Gap Food Pantry as the organizing leaders of the current program - Cindy as keeping the recipient files and Nancy as directing the food ordering process.  Both are essential to the monthly operation.  Under their competent supervision the program has expanded exponentially the number of recipients being served in the broader geographic area of the new pantry at Scott House.​

If you or someone you know is in need of food assistance, or if you wish to volunteer in the food pantry, please contact:
The Emmanuel Episcopal Church office at 540-456-6334 or info(at)emmanuelgreenwood.org

Monetary donations are gratefully accepted and should be made out to Emmanuel Episcopal Church, with designation on the memo line “The Bread Fund” and mailed to the church at P.O. Box 38, Greenwood VA 22943.

Rockfish Gap Food Pantry volunteers at Scott House: Nancy Avery, Kris Bourque, Karulynn Koelliker, Chuck Hughes, Lil Huffman, Pete Aagard, Susie Frederick, Jeff Goebel

Interior pantry shelving

Photo courtesy of Cindy Kirchner

“…For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…”  
From Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
​Matthew 25: 35-36

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Special thanks to Margaret Hrabe for compiling this history.