Immanuel Baptist Church Opens 24-Hour Food Pantry in Clifton Forge
| By Jennifer Bailey
Staff Writer |
Clifton Forge, VA (Nov. 7, 2026)— Immanuel Baptist Church, located at 2819 Douthat Road in Clifton Forge, recently opened a 24-hour food pantry right on their property.
The food pantry is fixed in a box similar to Little Free Libraries and works the same as well! Anyone, at any time, can visit the white box at Immanuel Baptist Church in order to donate food items or take what they need.
"We've had it up for just a couple of weeks now," said Pastor Luke Benton when the Journal interviewed him on Friday morning. "The reason why we started doing this is because about five years ago, I became the pastor here at Immanuel, and we started doing vacation Bible schools and that's where I started learning about kids and their homes and some of the needs in the homes. I realized that Clifton Forge does have a big need to help out the needy and so we started to buy groceries for some families, help out in small ways, but for the last couple of years, I've had it on my heart to be able to put something permanent up so that people could come by and take as they needed it."
The food pantry, because it is outdoors, is only able to accept nonperishable items. Those wishing to donate in bulk may want to reach out to Immanuel Baptist Church to make arrangements to do so at 540-862-1011 or by emailing Pastor Luke at pastorluke@ibccf.org. "I hope it'll be a blessing to them," Pastor Lenton concluded. | | | | | |
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