A Mission of Community Service: Alabama Church Youth Group Assists at Revere Food Pantry

A group of high school-and-college-age students from the Lakewood Baptist Church of Phenix City, Alabama, performed the gift of community service at the Revere Food Pantry Monday and Tuesday.

The group, under the direction of the church’s youth minister, the Rev. Andrew Spires, spent the mornings assembling food packages of non-perishable items for the 2,500 Revere residents who receive assistance from the Pantry each week. The students also conducted a sports camp for local children at Ambrose Park.

In the past, the church group has completed missions in New Mexico, Belize, Romania, and other destinations.

“Serving others is what we’re called to do,” said the Rev. Spires. “We just come to serve because we’re called to serve by Christ, so we want to follow His example.”

Megan Witter, co-coordinator of the Revere Food Hub that operates under the leadership of Community Health and Engagement Director Dimple Rana, praised the group’s humanitarian efforts in the city.

“This group has been fantastic,” said Witter. “They’re very attentive and understand the mission of feeding insecure families. I’m so excited to have them here. They’re working in all aspects of our operation. It always good to make good connections and to network locally and afar.”

The Alabama-Revere connection

The Alabama group’s connection with Revere was established by the Rev. Michael Barnett, a Revere resident who is originally from Georgia.

“I’m friends with the pastor of this group and I asked him if they could come up to assist on doing some mission work here,” said the Rev. Barnett, who has lived in Revere for 18 months and is an associate pastor at Church At The Well in East Boston.

He said he first became familiar with the Revere Food Pantry’s work when he noticed many cars lined up outside the building on Winthrop Avenue.

“We found out about the food bank, and I talked to Drew [Spires], and told him we have a great opportunity, and we want to see if you want to be a part of it, and he said, ‘absolutely’. We just enjoy being a part of the community and we love helping out where we can.”

The Rev. Barnett, whose wife, Lydia Barnett, is a seventh-grade science teacher at Rumney Marsh Academy (the couple has three children, Zoe, a junior at Revere High, Gavin, an eighth grader at Rumney Marsh, and Hayden, a fourth grader at the Lincoln School), said the group from Phenix City will be continuing its goodwill tour with the painting of a church in Marlborough (Mass.) “and on Friday, I get to show them our great city of Boston.”