Heaven’s Bounty, a fresh food ministry, is gaining momentum and notoriety in the Ooltewah community through volunteers’ efforts to provide wholesome produce to families and individuals in need.
Heaven’s Bounty, a fresh food ministry, is gaining momentum and notoriety in the Ooltewah community through volunteers’ efforts to provide wholesome produce to families and individuals in need.“There are many organizations that work with nonperishables, but I wanted to work with fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Kimberly Grace, founder and coordinator for Heaven’s Bounty, which is part of the Southern Singles Ministry. “When your budget is really tight, you really cut down your grocery budget, especially niceties such as fresh produce. It’s harder to work with because it is perishable and takes more hands, but the smiles we get in return are worth it.”
Nearly a year after Heaven’s Bounty was founded, Grace and volunteers are working closely with a local and anonymous grocer. The grocer is supplying the ministry with unsellable but useable and surplus produce on a six-day-a-week basis. The ministry works with between 200 and 300 individuals and families per month.
Grace said with the new support of the Southern Singles and a strong volunteer base, she will be able to reach more people in the community by working with local tornado-relief effort organizations.
Grace is looking for a permanent location for Heaven’s Bounty, which currently works out of a volunteer’s home, where volunteers can collect, organize, store and hand out their produce. She said once she finds a location, Heaven’s Bounty is going to need donations such as refrigerators for storing the fresh food and volunteers to help sort through it.