ST. CHARLES – For 40 years, Bogey Hills Baptist Church has fed their community through the Powell Terrace Food Pantry.
“Our church started it in 1985. The Lord has blessed us with the ability to do this,” said pastor Coby Boyd, who is also pantry director.
“Other churches in the association help us through their tithes and offerings. Other businesses, schools, civic organizations have had food drives for us. People have brought food or money by for us to buy food.”
The Powell Terrace Pantry at 704 Boone Avenue is a 1,000 square foot home owned by the church. Cold items are in freezers and refrigerators, and throughout the house food items are stored.
“In 2024, the food pantry served over 30,000 people, and we gave away over $925,000 worth of food products,” Boyd said.
There are up to 15 regular volunteers, and occasionally another one or two volunteers are present. Some do the curbside handout of the food for four hours on Mondays and three hours on Wednesdays. Others come in on off days to pre-box the food items for the next distribution. Three drivers pick-up food from different donating stores, several times a week.
Sometimes, even non-believers volunteer, and that presents opportunities for more gospel sharing.
“Our emphasis is building relationships. We’ve had a handful of families come to church because of the food pantry.
One International student who attended Lindenwood University came. He and his wife made decisions to follow Christ and were baptized into the membership. He’s now our Sunday School Director.
“Feeding people is great, but that is how we get a foot in the door to share the gospel with them,” Boyd said.
“We certainly can’t do this without the community support, and that gives me the opportunity to speak to people on a more personal level.
The community understands the good things we are doing. We truly love our community.”
Boyd said the church is embracing words of Jesus to be salt and light and to love one another.
“We want to put the spotlight on God.”
Since the pandemic, Bogey Hills Baptist is serving 2,500 people a month, and new families are signing up for various reasons.
With high grocery prices, many are asking about eggs, something the church has not had for months.
“We’re a small church. We have less than 100 in Sunday School. Any church can do something. It’s the heart of the people to want to do this in their community,” Boyd said.