We made sure to drop in on the Run to the Table 5K for Table Grace of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Athens, TN this past Saturday. They raised over $12,000 to help feed the food insecure of McMinn and surrounding counties as the largest USDA-certified food pantry in the area. From a humble beginning of a bowl of soup to distributing over 317,000 in the past year, Table Graces is a vital ministry for Athens, McMinn, and the counties surrounding them.
On November 4, 2020, St. Paul’s Food Ministry became Table Graces Food Pantry, and the church signed a lease for the warehouse across from Maddie Mae’s. At that time, St. Paul’s received a COVID relief grant, allowing them to purchase a truck, industrial refrigerators and freezers, shelving, and a forklift. From then, multiple donors, both individual and corporate, have donated enough food and funds to allow Table Graces to distribute an astonishing 317,000 pounds of food in a year, putting them on track to surpass 400,000 pounds by the end of 2022.
