Downtown Ashville renaissance

Community bustling with economic growth

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Richard Rybka

The sign above the coffee pot reads, “Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.” That quote by author and playwright Victor Hugo is as much a part of the blueprint of Ashville’s newest business as is the smell of coffee that wafts through the cozy space. The story belongs to Holli Smith and Heather Warren, the sisters who own Lala’s. It’s a story of family, of love and loss, but it doesn’t end there.

The sign outside the building reads “Lala’s,” and a hot cup of coffee is just the beginning of their offerings. This place, located in the Ashville Historic District on the city’s courthouse square, is a bookstore with a bar where one can order hot and cold beverages, including various beers and wines. They also offer hot food options, with their stone-hearth oven pizza being a crowd favorite.

They just opened in December, but the owners’ plans include trivia nights, wine and beer tastings and live music. Heather and Holli’s grandmother’s piano sits against the wall just waiting to be played. The promise of a song is echoed by a nearby guitar.

The music stopped for the Smith and Warren families just over five years ago when Warren’s 19-year-old daughter, Haleigh, died from a pulmonary embolism. Haleigh’s nickname was Lala, a name given to her by her cousin, Smith’s son, Zander. “She loved reading, trivia, music and food, all the things we’ve decided to do here,” says Smith. “That quote over the bar is symbolic of our journey, coming out of that darkness.”

The bar itself is the handiwork of Smith’s husband, Merrell. It is crafted from red oak plywood and whiskey barrels. Tin tiles from the building’s former ceiling add character to the bar’s front wall.

More of the building’s history is evident throughout the business. The restroom door, a remnant from the days the space was used during the 2014 renovation of the courthouse across the street, reads, “Office of the Tax Collector.”

A large group table in the back is a refinished glass cutting table from the time when the space was used as storage for the adjacent Teague Mercantile business.

“During the renovation, we kept as much of the original structure as we could,” adds Smith. It was important to them to preserve the historical integrity of the building as much as possible. Smith’s son, Zander, is currently researching the building’s history for his fourth-grade history fair project.

The sisters both graduated from Ashville High School and now teach at that same school. Holli teaches Honors and AP English, while Heather teaches Honors and AP Science. Their love of travel is evidenced in the décor, maps, and pictures of many different countries hanging on the walls of Lala’s. “We’ve always talked about doing something like this,” says Smith. “We’d be traveling and visit a place like this and talk about how we could have our own coffee shop and bookstore.”

Their biggest blessing so far, the sisters say, has been the support of community. “We have been overwhelmed by the support of business neighbors and city leaders as well,” says Smith. “The soft openings were crazy! We weren’t prepared for the number of people who came out to support us.”

Reawakening ‘the square’

Just across the street, business neighbors Chad and Esther Smith agree that the community has been amazingly supportive of their clothing and gift store. They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary of business for Farm Wife and Company. Their hope is that more businesses will join them and create more foot traffic in the downtown square.

Chad calls it a “wild dream,” that plan that he and his wife, Esther, began to talk about a few short years ago. The couple, steeped in the farming community in St. Clair County, had talked about one day opening a small retail shop of some sort in Ashville.

Ice cream at Farm Wife & Co.

They were already woven into the community as owners, with his brother and sister of nearby Smith Tomato LLC.  The tomato farm, located in Steele, has a retail side where customers can visit the farm to purchase fresh produce and farm-branded products.

The two were busy helping to run the farm and the retail side of that business, but Esther and Chad Smith kept dreaming of opening their own retail shop. “Chad said I have that special touch for fashion and design,” says Esther. “We wanted to open a shop, but we didn’t want it to be a boutique. We wanted to be able to offer something for all ages.”

Their 1,800-square-foot storefront, Farm Wife and Company, is in court square in the heart of Ashville and is packed with a variety of unique giftware for all occasions and clothing for all ages. From wedding and baby gifts to special small-batch lotions made in Mooresville, Alabama, the inventory is unique and tasteful. There is even a men’s clothing and giftware section specifically designed by Chad.

He and Esther bought the old storefront before Thanksgiving in 2021 and began renovating it themselves, while also working on the farm.  It was a labor of love that spanned a full year, before the store opened in December of 2022, just a month after Ashville’s bicentennial celebration.

The farm motif is interwoven throughout the store, from the farmer-specific quote behind the checkout desk to the barn façade that leads into the ice cream shop in the back of the store. “We see couples or people with kids come in and one person shops and the other comes to the back and sits down for ice cream or a cup of coffee,” says Chad.

The name Farm Wife and Company tells the story of their lives. Even her license plate says, “farm wife.” “We’ve always been in farming,” explains Esther. “We met on the farmland we now live on. My mother and both of my grandmothers were farmer’s wives, and Chad’s mother, too.

“We could have gone to a larger city, but we didn’t want to,” adds Esther. “Ashville needed it, and we wanted to open our store here.” They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary as a business. After initially intending to rent the space, they had the opportunity to buy it and jumped on it. “I think it was just God’s plan for us,” Esther says. “Everything just kind of fell into place. We had wanted to be on the square because it’s so visible and because the courthouse is so beautiful!”

Ashville Mayor Derrick Mostella is grateful for this small business and others who have brought the downtown area back to life.

“It’s those family businesses, like Farm Wife and Company, Lala’s, GNX and Little Art Tree, that represent us so well,” says Mostella. “They are the ones that set the tone for shopping local and keeping people invested in our town.”

Meanwhile, the city is doing its part, working on several projects to improve sidewalks, adding to the functionality of the downtown area.  “We’ve got several projects in the works,” says Mostella. “We’re really sprucing up our park and recreation department and would love to be able to build a recreation center. We’re also looking at developing our land out near the interstate.”

Mostella campaigned prior to his election in 2016 on a promise to promote a downtown renaissance. “Business in downtown had gotten pretty bleak for a while,” he admits. “We always had those anchor businesses like Kell Realty, Charlie Robinson Law Offices, Sew Nice and Teague Mercantile. Then Dr. Labbe with Ashville Dental Center renovated the old pharmacy and relocated his business to the downtown. He was the first to realize the value of these old buildings.” Others soon followed.

GNX Gun Exchange opened in September of 2021 in an old bank building on the square. “It’s not your typical gun shop,” says co-owner Misty Thomas. “Since it was an old bank, we still have the vaults.” When she and her husband, Shane, went looking for a place to open their store, the bank building became available.

GNX Gun Exchange

“We love being downtown,” adds Thomas. “It’s not a huge town, but they’re amazingly supportive. Events downtown are great. We always have a great turnout.” Events are held in the square for July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas, which promote foot traffic around the square, which encourages shopping at local merchants.

For Esther at Farm Wife and Company, being in the heart of downtown is part of the dream. She hopes that the growth of her store and others will help to make Ashville a place where people will want to come to spend time. “That would also allow us to do more and give back to the community,” she says.  “We want to continue to serve others.”

Keeping the family atmosphere of a small town while promoting business development is a tricky balance for city leaders. Mayor Mostella says Ashville is handling that growth by simply remembering who they are.

“We are looking for growth, not for the sake of growth, but for growth that works with who we want to be,” he says. “We want to be able to offer different amenities, while still not outgrowing our small-town feel. It’s a balance.”

Run 4 the Parks

5K event highlights good things in Springville

Story by Paul South
Photos by Richard Rybka

No matter its size, a city’s growth is always measured in new jobs, new rooftops, new businesses and new people.

But in Springville – at least for its Parks and Recreation Department – growth is also calculated in miles and smiles.

Consider Springville’s Run 4 the Parks.

In its brief existence – the inaugural event took place last year – the city has raised some $23,000. According to the parks and rec website, proceeds from the 5k race and other run-related events will offset the cost of improvements at the Springville Sports Complex, specifically a stone entrance gate, new signage and lighting.

Rick Hopkins, the city’s director of Parks and Recreation, says the idea for the run sprouted from an effort to bring more events into the community.

Riley Robertson and passenger

Years ago, the city hosted a successful 5k run. But Springville’s park board envisioned something bigger and better.

“We talked about how we wanted it to be something more than a 5K so that it would be something for the entire family, not just for people who specialized in long distance running. That was the real genesis of it.” SpringFest and a previous 5K run – which helped fund Big Springs Park and the city’s popular Splash Pad – provided a template for the Run 4 The Parks.

“We just built off SpringFest,” Hopkins says. “But we wanted something that was focused on the entire family. We tried to bring back something similar to SpringFest. That was really our goal.”

In the 5K, 108 runners competed this year. Some 100 runners participated in the other classifications last year, which included runners across the spectrum in terms of age. The event also attracted a large number of spectators.

The sports complex improvements are aimed at raising the facility’s public profile.

“One of the big issues we have at the sports complex is a lot of the people don’t know we’re here, because we don’t have signage; we don’t have an entrance,” Hopkins says.

Run 4 the Parks is just a slice of what Springville Parks and Recreation offers. “We like to have something for everyone,” Hopkins says.

And it seems the city does – youth baseball, flag football, tackle football, cheerleading, basketball, soccer and softball, as well as adult co-ed softball. Disc golf and pickleball are also on the horizon.

The city has four parks – the youth baseball and sports complexes, Big Springs Park and Woody Park – six tennis courts, the Big Springs Splash Pad and Big Springs Dog Park.

The department also manages the Springville Senior Center, which according to Mayor Dave Thomas, is “bursting at the seams” and the Farmer’s Market site downtown. The city hopes to reopen the market by June 2024 as a state-certified Farmers Market, joining markets in Moody and Pell City as state-certified.

By the end of September, the city was expecting a $50,000 grant from T-Mobile to help fund improvements at the facility, and the city plans to match the grant.

A  major municipal undertaking is underway, construction of the Big Canoe Creek Preserve. Paving work is moving ahead. And Schoel Engineering is providing a master plan for the project at no cost to the city. Some trails, including horseback, are expected to open in October.

Rubber Ducky Launch

 Looking to future progress, at press time, Springville was awaiting the green light from the Forever Wild Land Trust to begin construction on a four-mile biking and hiking trail. Since 1992, Forever Wild has secured more than 284,000 acres of Alabama land for public use, and Big Canoe is part of that trust.

Big Canoe Creek Preserve will also be home to environmental education, celebrating the land’s broad biodiversity. “I think the future is so bright for outdoor education for the nature preserve,” Hopkins predicts.

“The nature preserve is going to be a feature for the entire county,” he adds. “It’s really a feather in the cap for this community because it’s going to draw people to St. Clair County from all over the state and outside the state.”

The preserve continues to be a community effort with in-kind contributions spurring the progress. It’s important to note the city has received some $30,000 in free excavation work from a local firm, Norris Paving.

Parks and Rec Administrative Clerk Lucy Cleaver, along with preserve manager Doug Morrison, is developing the environmental education program at the preserve to serve students and adults. She earned two degrees in outdoor education from Auburn University.

“We want to use (the preserve) to the best of our ability to truly be a spot where people can come and be inspired by nature, to learn about the history of St. Clair County … and all the immense biodiversity that we have out there. It’s a very special place.”

 Cleaver also oversees the Farmer’s Market and assists Hopkins in managing Parks and Recreation events.

It’s estimated that some 90 percent of Springville’s nearly 5,000 residents utilize the city’s parks and recreation facilities and programs. Some 2,000 from the city and neighboring communities take part in team sports.

All of this is part of an ongoing effort by the city to “raise the bar” when it comes to quality of life in Springville, Mayor Thomas says. He praises Hopkins and his staff as they juggle the myriad activities and events under the department’s umbrella.

“Hat’s off to them,” he says. “I don’t know how they do it.”

The goal for parks and rec? Maintaining and expanding high quality opportunities for Springville citizens. Think possibilities like Art in the Park or Strings in the Park. But it takes time.

“Everybody’s struggling with finite resources,” Thomas says. “We can’t do everything we want to all at once. But as long as we maintain the vision and keep our eye on the ball, we will get there.”

While the success of Springville’s Parks and Recreation efforts can be measured in numbers like participation, a more compelling narrative comes from anecdotes. It’s impossible to please everyone. But Hopkins says positive feedback far outdistances complaints.

Thomas uses another metric. Smiles. “By and large, the support is overwhelming. They like what we’re doing.”

For Hopkins and his department, serving the community is the focus. “We are here to serve (the people), and we want to serve them in the best way that we can every single day.”

Rotary Club of Pell City

Building a better community

Take a look around Pell City, and chances are the good works you see in just about every corner result from people serving others for a greater good. In these parts, they call them Rotarians, where the principle, “service above self,” guides their actions.

See for yourself.

A nurse, a doctor and staff now tend to patients at a community clinic, a scene unaffordable for so many and non-existent just a few years ago.

A food pantry is well-stocked, giving those in need an opportunity to feed their families during hard times.

An adult learns to read for the first time through a literacy program, and high school students are learning to help one another cope with depression and suicide through creative, powerful podcasts.

Meals are delivered to first responders on the job as a thank you for jobs well done.

A museum opens, capturing the oral histories of the city’s citizens before their voices are lost to subsequent generations.

The list is long. The needs are longer. That’s why Pell City Rotary Club dedicates its efforts to serving the community year after year, acts that have been ongoing since 1974 when a group of business leaders founded the club with only 25 members.

Today, membership has more than tripled, and the growth continues. So does their service.

Tennis tournament a fun event for all ages

In many instances, Rotarians roll up their sleeves and go to work, volunteering for a variety of causes – building a playground, stocking the shelves at the food pantry, helping with local festivals or donating a pint of blood.

They also serve by raising funds for thousands of dollars in grants designed to make the community a better place. Those grants are funded by three major fundraisers and an endowment begun by a Rotarian who envisioned the club’s potential impact.

The Father-Daughter Dance headed by Rotarians of the Year, Blair Goodgame and Meg Clements, is a source of tremendous pride and anticipation throughout the city. Little girls spend quality time with their ‘dates’ – their daddies – for a magical evening. And the smiles seen throughout are memories that last a lifetime.

The Pell City Rotary Charity Golf Tournament Ray Cox Memorial, now in its 43rd year, is a coming together of golfers, sponsors and Rotarians to raise much needed funds for worthwhile causes throughout the city.

And the tennis tournament each October operates much the same way – bringing players, sponsors and Rotarians together to provide strong foundations upon which worthy projects are built across Pell City’s landscape.

Rotary’s newest community effort to promote Rotary and to involve the entire family to prepare the Christmas season is the Pell City Rotary Club Family Fun 5K Run fundraiser to benefit the newly reopened Sherrif’s Boys Ranch. The run will be held at Lakeside Park in December 2023.

The run event is yet another example of seeing a need and finding a way to fill it.

While Rotary Club of Pell City is like a melting pot of men and women who hail from different backgrounds, careers and cultures, they make good things happen throughout the city because of their common desire to serve others.

“We cannot say enough about the financial support our community lends to our efforts,” said Rotary President Serge Brazzolotto. “Because they give, we can give. And when we invest in projects throughout our city, whether it’s volunteering or providing funding, the quality of life is enhanced and our community becomes a better place to live, work and raise a family.”

Just take a look around, and you’ll see just how Rotary, working together with the community it serves, fulfills that guiding principle year after year.

A community connection

Ashville Library celebrating five decades of service

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Richard Rybka

When you consider what a public library has to offer residents, the most obvious answer is books.

If, however, you ask Paula Ballard and Gail Walker what the library in Ashville offers their community, they give a completely different answer. The most vital gift it provides, they say, is connection.

The McCain Memorial Public Library in Ashville, formerly known as the Ashville Public Library, turned 50 last month, and Ballard and Walker were among the many who celebrated its five decades of connecting patrons to information, book lovers to adventure and people to people.

“The town of Ashville is surrounded by rural communities, and people do come here to make connections,” said Walker, who lives in Shoal Creek Valley and is on the library’s board of directors.

Children’s reading area

Ballard, who has served as the library’s director for nine years and is only the ninth librarian in its 50-year history, said it’s not unusual for older residents to spend time in the library visiting with each other. “For some, it may be the only time they see other people that day,” she said. Ballard loves watching young mothers connect with each other while their children become friends during story time and other activities.

The library, one of seven in St. Clair County, moved to a new and larger location last year and offers nearly 18,000 items for circulation. In addition to books, there are DVDs, magazines, audiobooks, board games and learning tablets for children. They offer programming for adults as well as children, and many residents who don’t have access to a computer or who have spotty Internet service make use of the facility’s computer stations.

“We fill a lot of needs, so we’re more than just books,” Ballard said, adding that she provides computer assistance every day. “You can’t walk in and apply for a job on paper anymore; you’ve got to do it online. We scan, make copies and fax so people don’t have to drive to Gadsden or Birmingham. We have DVDs because not everyone has reliable streaming. We have people who sit in the parking lot to use Wi-Fi even when we’re closed.”

The first chapter

Although those who worked so hard to make the town’s library a reality in 1973 couldn’t have known the many ways the library would change lives in 2023, chances are good they would be pleased with the impact it makes. After all, their goal from the very beginning was to “improve the environment of our town.”

Members of the Ashville Garden Club got the ball rolling in the summer of 1972, according to a narrative written by Mattie Lou Teague Crow, who served as the Garden Club’s Environmental Improvement Program chair at the time and later became the first librarian. Ballard discovered the narrative in an old scrapbook during last year’s move.

Until then, the “library” consisted of several shelves of books provided by the Alabama Public Library Services, and they were housed in the Town Hall. One employee worked one afternoon a week, checking out books and writing overdue notices. The town clerk was responsible for the books the rest of the time.

“The collection had grown and was crowding the town’s office space,” Crow wrote. “The Garden Club had enjoyed a rewarding experience with our House Pilgrimage in 1972. Our bank account reached an all time high, and we were searching for a worthwhile activity.”

After meeting with the mayor and Town Council, it was eventually determined that the library could be housed in the previous Town Hall building, which had been empty for several years. Before it was over with, members of the community joined forces to make the project a success, and in a bit of foreshadowing, they built connections while they worked together.

According to Crow’s narrative, the town purchased two library tables, a desk, typewriter and filing cabinet, and the Garden Club members “reworked an old desk and chairs given by one of the schools.” They also provided new shelving, magazine racks and a card catalog cabinet. Local civic clubs bought sets of encyclopedias, and the mother of a soldier (James Robert Heard, Jr.) who was killed in Vietnam, donated the flag that was draped on his casket. In addition, local artists displayed their works at the library.

“By the time we were ready for our Open House, the entire town had become involved in our project,” Crow wrote.

Move-in day was Sept. 1, 1973. “The place had been made lovely with soft green walls, wall to wall carpet, new lighting and year-round air conditioning,” Crow added. “In a few days, all was in apple-pie order and the public began using the new library.”

Happily ever after

While that first library served Ashville well for decades, history has a way of repeating itself. In recent years, the library had begun to outgrow its space, parking was limited on the downtown square, and the city owned a building on US 231 that had been empty for a few years.

In addition to city funding, a generous donation from David and Louisa McCain, made in honor of the four generations of McCains who have called Ashville home since 1878, helped bring the project to fruition. The McCain Memorial Public Library opened in April 2022.

In addition to an ever-growing collection of books for adults, teens and children, there are study rooms and a computer lab. A grant from the Alabama Public Library Service, made possible by the Library Services and Technology Act, will allow the library to soon have six new computers for public use, a new staff computer, catalog station, and an iPad station for the children’s area.

Programming has grown, as well, with the library’s multi-purpose room. Larger events, like the annual Father-Daughter Dance fundraiser, are held offsite but having a dedicated space for programs has opened up a world of possibilities, Ballard said.

For adults, there’s a Book Club and weekly exercise classes. A group meets to crochet together twice a month, and adults and teens have enjoyed events like Harry Potter Trivia Night, ceramics classes, a beekeeping program, henna tattoo class and a hair tinsel tutorial.

In addition to weekly story time on Tuesdays at 10:30, children enjoy the summer reading program, which continues to grow in popularity. During the summer, kids enjoyed a variety of activities, including science demonstrations offered by the McWane Center, a visit from a llama, a rock painting activity and reading to dogs as part of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society’s Reading Buddies program. A monthly Lego Club is a big hit, and students’ creations are displayed each month between meetings.

“We’re proud of our new facility and what it enables us to do,” Ballard said. “We wanted this space to be inviting and cozy but look new and fresh. You want people to leave happy and wanting to come back.

Walker and Ballard, both avid readers, hope that children visiting the library today develop the same love for books they’ve enjoyed.

“I’ve always loved books,” Walker said. “My sister and I would each check out the maximum number of books, and then we’d share. It always opened up our imaginations. I think a love of reading is the single most important thing a child can have to be successful. If you can read, you can do anything.”

Ballard’s mother, Susan Kell, was the librarian at Ashville Elementary School for years, so reading has always been a part of her life. “I remember coming to the library all the time in the summers,” she said, adding that she feels fortunate that reading a wide variety of genres is now part of her job. “I read everything from young adult fantasy to psychological thrillers to romantic comedies.”

Knowing that Ballard is now guiding a new generation of readers would likely make Crow – Ballard’s great-aunt – proud. In fact, the words Crow wrote in 1973 still reflect the impact the library continues to have on the community she loved so much.

“Without a doubt, the library has improved the environment of this whole community,” Crow penned. “First it has furnished reading materials for inspiration and information and entertainment to people in every walk of life. It has brought civic groups together in greater harmony and cooperation. It has become one of the leading institutions for our small town, and our citizens are appreciative of the services.”

New St. Clair County Jail

Improving security and
more through technology

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Richard Rybka

St. Clair County is about to open a brand new, state-of-the-art jail that will allow guards to control every valve, commode and door lock from second-floor hubs overlooking the cell blocks. The new jail will accommodate about the same number of prisoners as the current jail in Ashville and the former one in Pell City combined.

The $35 million, two-story facility, located across the street from the county courthouse in Pell City, can house 333 inmates in 54,000 square feet of space. Designed by CMH Architects of Birmingham and built by Goodgame and Company of Pell City, it is next door to where the old jail was. The old was torn down to make room for the new.

“The jury is still out as to the fate of the Ashville jail and the building next to it,” Stan Batemon, chairman of the St. Clair County Commission, said in a telephone interview. Speaking at an Open House for the new facility, Batemon said it could not have been built in Ashville because the sewer system there can’t handle it.

He said the project was financed with a $24 million bond issue and $10 million in federal COVID monies. When the county commission agreed to build the jail, it earmarked court-cost fees attached to all criminal cases toward the payment of the bonds.

“With the control of the facility done from the second floor looking down, we’ll need fewer guards and less contact,” Batemon said. “Every valve, sink, commode, door lock and every piece of video equipment will be controlled electronically by panels the jailers can monitor.”

“This is what happens when elected officials from the city and county work together,” said St. Clair County Sheriff Bill Murray. “The architect and the builders made a great team. Soon it will be my job to make it safe and keep it safe and secure for our citizens.” He also thanked the St. Clair County Commission for making the project a reality.

Cutting the ribbon, from left, front row: Chairman Stan Batemon, Sheriff Billy Murray; back row, Commissioners Ricky Parker and Bob Mize

Murray and the deputies who will be working at the new facility went through a month-long training program. They will be set to take the jail’s first inmates by the first week of August.

During the Open House, tours started in the large, secure intake area, where inmates will begin the process of getting booked. The male wing has five dorms with five cell blocks in each, and each dorm has a central commissary containing eating tables, a television and video visitation capabilities. The female side is similar but smaller, containing only two dorms with one cell block each. However, there is space to add more dorms on the female side, because the number of female prisoners is growing, according to Brody Bice, project coordinator for Goodgame and one of the Open House tour guides. “They expect to have to expand, and we have provided a place to expand the female side, which is set up like the male side,” Bice .

He said the facility was built with concrete blocks that are filled with rebar and poured concrete, making it a very secure building. Cells were shipped in from Georgia, two at a time, attached together. They already contained bunks, stools, chairs and toilets, as well as the conduits for utilities, in place.

All of the dorms, cells and accommodations are located on the first floor. So is the public lobby, which has a machine for depositing money to a prisoner’s account and a video visitation area. There will be no in-person visitation allowed.

The new kitchen area

Other main-level amenities include:

Arraignment Room

Control Room, which allows control of all exterior doors

Break room for officers and staff. One wall will have a kiosk with sandwich makings, where jail and county courthouse employees may eat.

*Administration Office

Training Room

Laundry Room

Kitchen, with walk-in freezer, commercial gas stove, and the capability of expansion

Medical wing with four cells

“We have prisoners farmed out to three other counties, and we’re paying several thousand dollars a month for that,” Chairman Batemon said. “We have all we can put in the Ashville jail right now. We’re almost ready to move all inmates to the St. Clair County jail.”

Batemon said it costs $50,000 per year to house a prisoner in Alabama, and St. Clair County is doing what it can to reduce the number of inmates.

“We already have a drug court and a veterans court to help keep some out,” he said. (See“Saving Veterans,” October/November 2019 issue of Discover.) “About 20% of prisoners are veterans. We’re hoping to add a mental court, too. We’re proud of the jail, proud of our citizens for their support of this new facility.”

Christian Love Pantry

Taking care of neighbors in time of need

Story by Scottie Vickery
Submitted photos

Sue Turton will never forget the young girl who came to the Christian Love Pantry with her father years ago. She couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7, but she’d already experienced the hard realities of life. Her father had lost his job, the family was hungry, and they turned to the ministry based in Pell City for help.

The little girl’s eyes got wide as she looked at the groceries the volunteers had prepared for the family, Turton remembered. “Oh Daddy, look, there’s peanut butter,” the child said. “We’re not poor anymore.”

Pell City Rotarians join volunteer ranks

For more than four decades, the Christian Love Pantry, has been providing much more than just food to St. Clair County families in crisis. Based on the belief of neighbors helping neighbors, they’ve offered hope, love, kindness and compassion by the grocery cartful.

“The Lord always provides enough,” said Bob Osborn, a volunteer who serves as director of the nonprofit. “This community is wonderful that way. If we need something, they step up.”

That was certainly obvious in December when the Christian Love Pantry gave away 22,500 pounds of food during its annual Christmas in the Park event held at Lakeside Park. Area churches and civic organizations provided volunteers, and the St. Clair County Airport Authority and members of the Pell City Seventh Day Adventist Church distributed toys and treats collected during a toy drive sponsored by the Airport Authority.

“You’re helping people, and that’s what people need,” one recipient said. “There’s a lot of people who are hungry.”

In the beginning …

The Christian Love Pantry began in 1980 when three Pell City churches – St. Simon Peter Episcopal Church, First United Methodist Church and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church – joined forces to meet the ongoing need for emergency food distribution.

After receiving a donation of $10,000 in 1982, the Pell City Ministerial Council officially established the ministry, which was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1991 and began receiving United Way of Central Alabama funding. Since then, many more churches have come on board, helping in a variety of ways.

“The original articles of incorporation said the purpose was to help the needy in the community and to also give members of different denominations to work together for the common good and understanding of each other,” said Turton, who serves as secretary.

So far, they’ve remained true to both goals. Seven churches – the original three, plus Cropwell Baptist, Harvest Center, Pell City Seventh Day Adventists and First Baptist – still have members on the Christian Love Pantry’s board of directors.  Another nine or 10 congregations provide volunteers, financial support, or food donations. “We are all different denominations, but we are all Christians and believe in Jesus,” Osborn said. “The unity we get from hanging out with one another and volunteering together is special.”

Providing daily bread

The organization, which serves thousands of people each year and is completely staffed by volunteers, is not a substitute for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often referred to as food stamps. Instead, it is designed to help families during emergency situations. For some, that’s the loss of a job or a health diagnosis resulting in high medical bills. For others, it’s a broken car transmission, a heating unit in need of repairs, or grandparents who have taken in a grandchild and haven’t started receiving benefits.

Getting everything ready for distribution a team effort all enjoy

“We give them enough food to get through a crisis,” Turton said. Typically, the Christian Love Pantry offers two emergency services per family each year in addition to providing food during special giveaway events usually held in the spring or summer, at Thanksgiving, and before Christmas. Clients are referred by other agencies, churches, the 211 directory, or family, friends and neighbors.

All recipients must live in St. Clair County, meet federal poverty guidelines, or be facing a special circumstance. The average family served has 2.5 members and an income of about $1,200 a month, which is well below the federal guidelines, Turton said.

Twice a year, families can receive enough food to last a week, if not more. The bounty, based on the number of people in the household and the food available in the warehouse includes a variety of soups, stews, vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, beans, pasta, rice, crackers, powdered milk, flour, corn meal, and more. In addition, recipients get fresh produce such as apples, oranges, carrots and potatoes, as well as meat and chicken. Publix donates bread and pastries daily, and the pantry also provides items such as diapers and pet food when available.

“Some families come every six months, and some you may see every five years,” Osborn said. “We don’t send anyone who’s out of food and hungry away,” Turton said, adding that partial services can be provided when necessary.

In addition to the twice-yearly services, the Christian Love Pantry also hosts several special event distributions each year. In December, for example, 250 families received over 90 pounds of food, including a 6-pound ham, 8 pounds of chicken, ground beef, as well as a variety of canned goods, breads and staples.

So how does it all happen? It takes a lot of partnerships, Osborn said. United Way is still the ministry’s top funder, providing about 40 percent of the budget. The rest comes from grants, churches, individual donations, fundraisers and civic organizations.

The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama in Birmingham is an important partner, as well. The agency serves as a hub for food pantries, homeless shelters and children’s programs, and Christian Love Pantry volunteers can buy food, including meat, for 16 cents a pound through the Food Bank so they can distribute it to their clients. “We get a lot of good food for very little money,” Osborn said. “It allows us to give generously.”

In addition to bread and pastries, Publix donates pallets of food a few times a year. Fresh Value offers a discount on food, and fresh produce is harvested from Gateway Community Garden. In addition, local farmers donate fresh eggs. The volunteers also provide recipes and information about other social services available.

Meeting the need

At its peak, the Christian Love Pantry provided nearly 3,000 families with regular services in a year. In 2020, the numbers dropped since clients received relief payments from the government, but since then the numbers have been on the rise again. In 2021, the ministry served 1,150 households with 2,961 people, Turton said. Last year, 1,406 families with 3,607 people were served. About 30 percent of those were children.

Although volunteers currently number about 100, there’s always room for more, according to Debbie Parmenter, who is a former volunteer coordinator and current Board chair. Volunteer opportunities range from working directly with clients for screening and food distribution, stocking donations, using pallet jacks to move large quantities of food and picking up daily donations at Publix. Only one shift per month is required, but many volunteers look forward to helping more often.

“We all have our niche,” Osborn said. “This is one little thing we can do once or twice a month that contributes to the community at large.”

Many of the volunteers are retired and have supported the ministry financially for years, but they are now enjoying a more personal commitment now that their children are grown, and job commitments have ended. “Many of us for many years had more money than time to help,” Turton said. “It’s indescribably better to be on this side of it and provide more than financial support.”

For information about receiving assistance, call (205) 338-2358 during the ministry’s business hours, which are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. To learn about volunteer opportunities, message them on The Christian Love Pantry Facebook page.