A church in Grand Prairie had to bring its weekly food distribution event last week to a halt after investigators say 48 pallets of food had been stolen from the church.
The Comforter Christian Church give out food every Thursday regardless of the weather. The food for the distribution is held in a building right outside of the church where it is normally safe, Pastor Julius Bamibe told news reporters.
Due to the empty shelves at local grocery stores and the disparity of food during last week’s winter storms, it has been a struggle for people to get food. The church shared a picture of the of the church’s food pallets on social media, but that was it, the pastor added.
Someone stole the food Wednesday night, just hours before it was to be passed out to hungry people in the community. Bamibe said. These 48 pallets would have fed upwards of 4500 people.
As Bamibe arrived at the church to set up the weekly distribution, he noticed the food had been stolen.
Bamibe understands the situation of the stolen food. He understands that people are in high desperation for food amid last week’s winter storms. Although he is saddened and wished he had somewhere there to monitor the distribution.
With no one watching the food distribution, people took more food than was needed resulting in leaving many families hungry. In addition to the food pallets that were stolen, someone also stole a forklift and a pallet jack which they were both sitting outside. The forklift is what the church used to move the food pallets, Bamibe mentioned.
We have no way of getting the stollen food back, but that has not got in the way of Bamibe.
He also already gotten more food pallets for this week’s food distribution. It will still take place on the same day, which is Thursday.
“In the community over here, we have a lot of senior citizens and we have a lot of single parents,” Bamibe said. “Even before the storm, life has been so challenging and difficult for them because of the pandemic.”
You can visit the Comforter Christian Center for food distribution on Thursday’s at 3pm. They are located at 2306 Oak Lane in Grand Prairie.
