South County Cares About Lorton Community

Andy Casper's love for charity and the church goes all the way back to his childhood. Growing up in the church with his parents, Casper developed a strong love for charity and faith. The lead pastor at South County Church, Casper wanted to give back to the community. With that mission in mind, he created South County Cares http://www.southcountycares.com/index2.php, a non-profit organization devoted to performing acts of kindness.

The organization was started in March 2008 when Casper opened South County Church, a ministry of his own creation. "The heart behind that [the organization] was really to be a community-based organization," Casper said. 

The mission of South County Cares is to "invest and serve the community" by offering services that such is making sure people are fed. And with this goal in mind, South County Cares began a partnership with Angel Food Ministries, another non-profit organization devoted to providing food and other assistance for the needy.

This partnership marked a great moment in the church's history. It allows South County Cares and South County Church set up an online system that allows people to buy $60.00 worth of food and pay only $30.00.

Once each month, South County Cares, along with 13 other ministries, meets to pick up food orders from Angel Food at Christ Chapel Church in Woodbridge. The food is then loaded on a truck and transported to the Lorton Fire Station and then distributed to families.

Bringing people together to help the community is what the organization is all about. "There's a group of four to six [people] that come from South County Cares" at food drop off sites, Casper said, stating that they get 40 to 50 orders every month on average.

Casper's life has been filled with a wealth of experiences, many of which led him to open South County Church. At the age of 18, Casper left his hometown near Seattle, to enter the army.

He worked as a youth pastor at the Word of Life Church from 2001 to 2006. And it was here that he met his wife, Cindy.

In 2006, he started a church planting internship. This internship immersed Casper in a church atmosphere that was doing the same thing he hoped to do with his own church in the future.

Casper has plans to continue giving and helping the community in 2011. In the coming year, he hopes to continue helping people by delivering food and offering other services they already have in place.

One of Casper's biggest goals is to provide a home where "families in transition" can live. In this home, he would like to offer education and daycare, primarily for single parents.

"Something I tell our church is that I hope we never forget the impact we make when we serve," Casper said. "Our whole mission really is to care."