Holy Ghost Upper Room Filling Station Ministry
Pastor Doris Johnson had never imagined that she would be a pastor. She actually liked to be behind the scenes and do good work for God by visiting nursing homes and bringing supplies to the homes. “I was always a behind the scenes person. I never wanted to put myself in a pastors shoes because of all the things they go through with the public.” But one day I was praying and god told me to do this and I opened a church in my home since 2004.” Shortly afterwards she applied for the 501(c3) grant and thus the food pantry was born.
There are is shortage of food pantries in the South Ozone Park area. Some residents come as far as Flushing to Pastor Doris food pantry because there are either no food pantries in the area or they do not have enough food to give out to the general public. Recipient Charles from the Flushing area stated that “I leave my house at 7:00am to come here to get food when they start handing it out at 9:30a.m. Pastor Johnson’s food pantry saves me on an average of 50 dollars a week in groceries.” “We need more food pantries throughout Queens in general. It seems that they only have the food pantries in the minority areas and even there are not enough in those areas.” Recipient Magie Benson who lives in the same neighborhood as the church has to walk about seven blocks to get to it every Saturday morning. “This food pantry is one of the most organized and we get very quality food. There are some food pantries that you can stand in line for three hours and only walk away with a few cans. Here you have to bring a shopping cart to carry the food home.” She said that the food pantry saves her about $50.00 dollars a week which helps her save money especially since she is retired. “These food pantries really help those of us who are on a fixed income. This helps me to save money on my bills and my mortgage and other things that I need. I heard the government was trying to close them down or stop giving funding for them. I hope not because these food pantries really help a lot of people on low incomes.”
It was a rainy day this Saturday but that did not stop the volunteers from coming out to hand food to about 70 people. People were laughing and joking and smiling as food was being giving to them. The rain and the cold did not make it easy but the volunteers all had smiles on their faces as they noticed the joy that was in people’s faces as they were taking the food to feed their families. Some of the food that was giving out was cereal, fresh cabbage, juice, bottled water and many other items. Even medicines were given out. Volunteer David Collier who has been volunteering for about two months says it makes him feel good inside to do this. “It is not just about giving money to people that is easy. But giving your time is the hardest but the most rewarding. Since I have stopped working I try to be out here as often as possible and I give my time by also helping to unload the truck when it comes in to deliver the food.”
Pastor Doris Johnson on an average spends about $2,000 a year to also buy lotion and other items that the grant does not cover for the food.
Holy Ghost Ministries also offers other assistance. They assist people by referring them to other food banks, give out clothes, refer people to Park Health Center for free Mammograms and prostrate screening for people who do not have insurance, we also help people fill out food stamp applications. We have people HEAT for people who are 60 years old and over to pay their utility bills. We also take food to people who are home bound and cannot go out and we give them food. We also supply food to the Katrina victims who stay in the hotel behind me. When we have other ministers have emergencies they come to me to get food who are destitute. Right now the church is in need of a shed to which is very costly. So donations for the shed can help maybe other churches can help that do not offer a food pantry. This would help me a lot. The shed is going to cost about $4,300-$5,000. Right now I have a shed but the snow destroyed the roof part of it. If I had a better shed I would be able to store more food. There is another church on the corner that is vacant and if I can get that space then I can have more space for a daycare and soup kitchen. “God has led me to be in this neighborhood and I feel that he is helping me to help the people in this immediate neighborhood
