WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

As I was walking into Union Baptist Church in Winston-Salem on Tuesday, Nov. 21, I met a mother of  four. She was coming to get a box of groceries to feed her children for Thanksgiving.

She smiled at me and said, “Hi, Busta Brown,” and then  kindly asked “What are you doing in my neighborhood?” I replied, “I came to do a story on Union Baptist Church feeding the community for Thanksgiving.” She responded, “They do this more than just for the holidays. They do things like this all the time. It makes me feel wonderful. It’s  a great thing to help out families for the holidays as well.”

The volunteers greeted the young lady and me with smiles and hugs. One of the volunteers asked the mother of four for her name, looked on a list, and then sent a male volunteer back to get a huge box of food. He had to use a cart to roll the box to the young lady’s vehicle. It was packed with fruits, vegetables, a pie, cake, turkey, sweet potatoes, drinks, everything a family needs to have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.  As she walked out the door, more families were coming in, and some were on list. It was a beautiful sight.

I went to the area where the volunteers were packing boxes. The first person that greeted me was Deloris Scales. “Hi Mr. Brown, thank you for coming to Union Baptist,” and then she introduced me to the other volunteers, which were all members of Union Baptist Church.

“Busta, we have been doing this for over 10 years. We know that it is a needed service in the community, and we get a good response. People drop by or call in to say ‘Thank you’ and how much they appreciate what we do. We have a food and clothing bank, and the community comes here weekly.”  Scales shared with me, “You  did a story last week that  inclueded her son Richie Rich.” He was one of the first and well-known break dancers in Winston-Salem. I filmed Richie break danicing, and posted the video on my Facebook page. It had over 11,000 views, and the numbers are growing daily. You can see the video on our YouTube channel @ Winstonsalem Chronicle.

I had the video in my cell phone, so I played it for Deloris and all of the volunteers rushed to see it as well. After we watched the video, Deloris introduced me to Pauline Eaton. She runs the clothing and food ministry, which is open to the community on Thursdays from 1-3 p.m., at 406 Northwest Blvd. in Winston-Salem.

“Anybody that needs help is welcome to come,” said Eaton. She said it is a process when you come to the food and clothing bank. “We have to sign them in, once we get their information, they go to the clothing bank, when they’re done, the food bags are prepared for them.” If you want to make a donation to Union Baptist food and clothing bank, drop your items off at 406 Northwest Blvd. in Winston-Salem.

I also met Rev. Claudette Mack, the aunt of Bishop Sir Walter Mack Jr., senior pastor at Union Baptist Church. She runs the nursing home ministry. “It’s been over 20 years, and I love it. During the holidays we feed them, and give them gifts, but our main thing is to make sure they get saved”, said Claudette Mack. 

Pauline Eaton took me to the assembly line to show me how they packed each box with love and care. It warmed my heart to see so much love in the room. When I saw yams in the boxes, I joked about taking a box home for myself, all of the ladies laughed, and Eaton smiled at me and said, “Sure you can, help yourself,” and I almost took her up on it; I love me some yams.

More members came by to volunteer or just stopped by to donate food and chat with friends. It was a love fest.

Go to our YouTube channel to see more of my interview with these beautiful ladies and you’ll also meet the hardest working male volunteer; this brother was putting in work.