[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Journey Hometown Journal.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: So we go into the neighborhoods and then anybody that wants to can come to our distribution site and we give them food. There's no charge, there's no impact to any sort of government assistance that they get.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Welcome to the Hometown Journal. I'm Mark Edwards. On this edition, we're going to discuss the work of the Red Truck ministry outreach in Lynchburg. Red Truck is helping to address food insecurity in the city. Federal Faith Nixon is a board member with Red Truck, and she joins us to share more about their work. Faith, what exactly is the Red Truck ministry?
[00:00:37] Speaker B: So the Red Truck ministry is a mobile food pantry. Lots of people are aware of the different food pantries that are in Lynchburg and the surrounding area and their wonderful services.
But we provide a unique service in that we actually have a truck that we stock with food and we go into the neighborhoods that have been identified with food insecurity. So we go into the neighborhoods and then anybody that wants to can come to our distribution site and we give them food. There's no charge. There's no impact to any sort of government assistance that they get. We provide canned goods. We provide fruits and vegetables. We. We provide meat. So we just provide a variety of good quality, nutritious food for folks that are in areas that suffer from food insecurity.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Faith, is it just Lynchburg city limits or do you go into any of the surrounding counties?
[00:01:42] Speaker B: So we have one distribution site that is just outside of Lynchburg city limits. The rest of our distribution sites currently are within Lynchburg city limits. Not that we're opposed to going in the surrounding areas, but that just happens to be, unfortunately, the areas that are impacted the most by food insecurity. And when I say food insecurity, these are areas that are defined typically lower income areas and also areas where people don't have mobility. They might not have a way to get to a grocery store other than, you know, hitching a ride with a friend or getting on the bus. And as you could imagine, if you take the bus to a grocery store and you try to, you know, you might have a child or you might have mobility issues yourself and carrying bags of groceries back and forth, that is not an ideal situation.
All but one of our distribution sites are within Lynchburg city limits.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: On average, how many people is Red Truck able to help monthly or yearly?
[00:02:48] Speaker B: So I can tell you in 2025, and I'll give you some 2026 numbers for comparison. But in 2025, there were 1,420 households represented that came to our distribution sites, but they came multiple times.
So those households doing the multiple times that they would visit us, we provided food to $13,000, 917 instances of providing food for those individuals, if that makes sense. It's kind of, it's hard to describe that, but we basically fed about 14,000 individuals throughout 2025. And this year, as of last week, we're at 7,940 instances of individuals being fed by our services.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: With the rising prices of food at the grocery stores, are you seeing more people coming to the truck and needing the assistance?
[00:03:53] Speaker B: So we had a significant spike year before last and last year. This year so far it's been pretty consistent and comparable to last year. But, you know, as most people will remember, over the past couple of years, the cost of groceries has definitely risen significantly. And we did see a spike in people needing our services as a result of that.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: That is Faith Nixon, a board member of the Red Truck Ministry in Lynchburg. She is with us today to share their work in addressing food needs in the community.
Information is
[email protected] we'll continue our conversation in our next segment.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Hey, where are you listening from?
[00:04:35] Speaker B: It's on at my job. It's on in my car.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: Whether you're checking us out at home, on the road, around the world or on vacation, we want to know.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I'm in Sal Travel a lot.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: If you're using the MyJourney FM app, click on Map the app and drop a comment telling us where you're listening. Or you can comment on the Journey Facebook page.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: You go with me everywhere.
[00:04:55] Speaker C: Let's see just how far the Journey reaches. The MyJourney FM app right in your pocket and all around the world.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Now back to more of the Journey Hometown Journal. Mark Edwards, back with you along with our guest, Faith Nixon, a board member with the Red Truck Ministry. The Red Truck is a mobile food pantry that is helping to address food insecurity issues. And in Lynchburg, you can find out more about them at redtruckministry.org faith does the red truck go into different neighborhoods each day?
[00:05:25] Speaker B: So we currently service 10 different distribution sites. And yes, so we a lot of our distribution sites we go to once a week. There are some that we go to every other week. So we might go to one place on every other Monday and then the alternating Mondays will go to a different site. So that's how we end up with the 10 distribution sites.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Okay. And then so when you're, when the truck is in a neighborhood, what are
[00:05:53] Speaker B: the hours that it's there from 10 to 11. And those neighborhoods are familiar with us and they know that we come on this day and we are there from 10 to 11.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Obviously there are partners that you're working with that will supply the food, who are some of the ministry partners.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: So we have several different partners. So we purchase a majority of our food from the Blue Ridge Area Food bank at obviously a much discounted rate. And then we also, for our meat, for our protein, we provide one pound packages of ground beef, and we also provide ground venison.
The beef is provided in a couple of different ways. We have some people, some of our local ranchers who will donate their cattle. So that is a huge help and huge assistance to the program. And when we need to subsidize that, we will actually go to the stock market and purchase a cow and take it to a local slaughterhouse and have it prepared. Also, Hunters for the Hungry, we are one of the largest recipients of venison from Hunters for the Hungry.
So we also have that. That we provide folks for the protein. Our other partners are the churches. Right. So we have churches that we will partner with that provide the volunteers at the distribution sites.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: I wanted to ask you about volunteer opportunities that are available that our listeners, the public, can be involved with the red truck.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: So there's a couple of different ways. Several different ways, actually. So people, if they want to volunteer to be at one of the distribution sites, and, you know, people go through and get their food, we certainly welcome that they can come to our warehouse on Wednesday when we typically receive our shipments from the Blue Ridge area Food Bank. And all of that food has to be unpacked and then put up on shelving and prepared to go out on the truck. We have another program that we're just starting.
It's a canning program, actually, in conjunction with the New London Cannery, through the Bedford County Parks and Recreation Department, and also in conjunction with Hunters for the Hungry, we're going to start actually canning chili beans, spaghetti sauce, soup, those kinds of things. And to be able to have that available to distribute to our clients that come visit us. So that's another way if someone wants to volunteer, they could help us with one of those canning events. So we have people that donate fruits and vegetables and baked goods. Like I said before, we have ranchers that donate their meat. We have local businesses that provide marketing services, accounting services, maintenance services to our refrigerators and freezers, services to our trucks and our vehicles. So there's multiple ways that people can get involved and help with the ministry if they would like.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: And I know you have a big
[00:08:58] Speaker B: event coming up, so I would like to make people aware. We have a gala coming up on September 15th. It's one of our largest fundraising events.
We are actually almost sold out. So if anyone is interested in coming, we would love to have you join us. There are a few seats available.
We will have the red truck there for people to be able to see it and understand better, you know, what that process looks like. We'll have lots of silent auction items. We'll have a wonderful dinner provided by Avenue Foods. And then we'll also have a program where we present on the ministry and what we're doing and how things have been going the past year and what. What our plans are for the future. So we welcome anybody that's interested in finding out more about us or helping support the ministry to come to that event. And you can go to our website and learn more about the gala and sign up for that and purchase your tickets there. Also, there's a link for donations. If you'd like to do that through the website, you may. And also there's a link where you can provide us your contact information if you would like to volunteer in some way.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: And when people go to the website, they'll see that the Red Shruck ministry is about not just meeting the physical needs, the hunger needs, but the spiritual need of an individual as well.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Our program, obviously, it's a mobile food pantry, and we use that as an avenue to be able to develop relationships with the clients that come visit us and in hopes of witnessing to them. So we, you know, they come through and they get their food, and we will have pastors and volunteers there that will say, you know, hey, how are you doing? Is there anything that we can pray with you about or anything that we can help you with? So, yes, we definitely are trying to help provide food for those that are in need, but also we want to provide support for them in a spiritual way as well. So it was start. The whole program was started by a group of pastors that were trying to, you know, think about how can they help the community. And they prayed about it for about a year and the program just kind of developed. And we just use this as an avenue to not only feed people physically, but hopefully feed them spiritually as well.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: And again, when you go to redtruckministry.org, you can read about the history of the organization.
My thanks again to Faith Nixon for being our guest and thank you for joining us for the Hometown Journal.
