Glenkirk Church Helps Define the Meaning of 'Giving'

Providing every day necessities and shelter for the less fortunate is a year-round labor of love for Glenkirk Church.

This is especially true at Christmas time.

The church on Palopinto Drive helps provide food and even shelter to many needy individuals all over the valley. Come Jan. 3, Glenkirk will once again offer a two-week stay to the homeless with the help of their Homeless Ministry, which has been around for about 20 years.

Part of the East San Gabriel Valley Homeless Coalition, the church marshals over 700 volunteers to provide food, showers, toiletries, medical assistance and even housing for complete families.

"Part of what we want to do as a church is train our people to really give from their hearts and to share what they have," said Luanne Jaime, director of community care for Glenkirk.

Four to five other churches from the area also pitch in at Glenkirk with the effort to coordinate services for the yearly event. Up to 200  people can be sheltered in Glenkirk's gym.

"For them [the congregation] it's really important to serve and when you look around and see the needs that exist, you don't see them right away," Jaime said. "People are down and out, they need food, they lost jobs. There are incredible ways that people can serve and give back to the community."

Jaime estimates that of those they help, about 25 to 30 percent come from Glendora.

Born out of a Glenkirk Bible study group, Shepherd's Pantry is another pivotal force in helping the needy.

About 90 of the nearly 140 volunteers that keep Shepherd's Pantry open are from Glenkirk Church. The Pantry provides food, clothing, resource counseling, in-home food delivery, children's reading tutor programs.

In business for seven years, Shepherd's Pantry quickly expanded from a 1,200 square-foot facility to a 5,000 square-foot facility and are looking to add another 2,000 to cover the increase in need, said Phil Huisman, director of Shepherd's Pantry.

The Pantry is on target to serve about 22,000 people this year, Jaime said, with people coming from all over the San Gabriel Valley.

About 10 to 15 retired teachers volunteer for the children's reading program, helping children with  reading comprehension skills.

Last Saturday the Pantry set up their facilities like a toy store, where parents selected over 650 toys for their children. Attendees were also treated to a pancake breakfast.

As need rises, donations, unfortunately, have not met demand.

"Donations have been down about 30 percent this year. Volume's been up about 30 percent this year, so the math doesn't work out very well," Huisman said. "It forces us to take our limited resources and go out and buy food, but it limits us in being able to expand programs."

Such is also true for the reading program.

"We're looking at expanding that program next year, we may do it two nights a week instead of one, but it's going to depend if we get the volunteers to come in and do that," Huisman said.

Both Glenkirk and Shepherd's Pantry are always looking for donations and dedicated volunteers. Anyone interested in contributing can contact Luanne Jaime at (626) 914-4833 x. 127 or Phil Huisman at (626) 852-7630.