More than Hope

(above) Families in need line up for more than a mile at Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission’s food pantry for its distribution.

BY BRIANNA STEPHENS

The line for Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission’s food pantry can now reach more than a mile long. Families start lining up 12 hours before distribution begins to ensure they can get the food they need. Through its food pantry service, the nonprofit, based in Dunlow, West Virginia, has seen the coronavirus pandemic’s harmful impact on an already poverty-stricken area in Appalachia. “Before the pandemic, we served, on average, 400 families monthly,” said Addie Likens, co-director of the organization. “Now we are serving around 750 families two to three times a month. In November, we had 924 families in one day, a total of 3,068 people. This included 1,019 children, 1,583 adults, and 466 seniors.” Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission’s partnership with Christian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Operation Sharing Program has helped meet the growing need for food in Wayne County and northern Mingo County, West Virginia.

— Aaron Thoms

Last year, Operation Sharing celebrated its 35th anniversary of delivering hope in Appalachia. Since its beginning, the program has received and redistributed gifts-in-kind at a value of nearly $2 billion to more than 1.5 million people across all 13 Appalachian states, Arkansas, and Missouri. Operation Sharing partners with more than 1,200 nonprofit organizations, churches, and community-based agencies throughout the region to serve people in need in Appalachia.

“Without partners like Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission, CAP would be unable to supply many of the daily necessities that people are in need of in rural communities like Dunlow,” said Aaron Thoms, manager of CAP’s Operation Sharing Program in Paintsville, Kentucky.

While Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission mainly receives food items from Operation Sharing, it also receives clothes, household items, building supplies, and school/office supplies that it distributes to the community and local schools. On occasion Operation Sharing has been able to send toys to the nonprofit, which it gives to children in its food pantry line. Likens said it is a great feeling to see the children light up at the sight of a new toy. “We are very blessed to be a partner with CAP,” Likens said. “We are 40 minutes away from the nearest grocery store, and now we are limited only to a drive-thru food pantry. Without the partnership with CAP, we could not continue to serve our community. We would not have enough to serve our 750 families.”

The continued donations and support from Operation Sharing throughout the pandemic have helped make a difference in the lives of the people in West Virginia and meet the overwhelming need for food Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission has seen at its pantry. Likens said it was eye opening to see how a shipment as simple as milk could impact the families she serves.

“The dedication and shear effort I have seen from organizations like Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission is almost indescribable,” Thoms said. “They definitely have a heart like no other for their communities and the people around them. All they want to do is help any way they can, which makes them a phenomenal partner for CAP and Operation Sharing.”