Fuel Church Distributes 35,000 Pounds of Food

A local church known for peddling hope filled up cars with something else this week. 

Fuel Church teamed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program and distributed more than 35,000 pounds of food to local residents Thursday. 

Jessica Petty, Dream Team/volunteer coordinator at Fuel said the initiative took many hands to pull off - including the work of more than 80 volunteers and several local businesses. 

“People were just so thankful,” said Petty. “They just kept saying thank you so much, we really needed this help.”

About 4 p.m. Thursday, volunteers started unloading 1,170 food boxes from a massive truck — assisted by a forklift loaned by American Party Time — to distribute to local families and organizations. The boxes were filled with fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products through a program funded by the USDA that was launched in 2020. 

The sky threatened to pour down rain on Thursday, but that didn’t stop the church or the community from coming to the event to snag one or two of the 30-pounds boxes. Coordinated Assistance Ministries and the Kokomo Rescue Mission were also recipients of the food boxes as well.

“We are an irrational generous church,” said Petty. “That is one of our core values, that we will give irrationally, and we know that if we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community then we are doing what he has called us to do.”

Petty said that after the group saw the need in the community, it wasn’t long before they started talking about another food box distribution in the future as an arm of church outreach. 

“We were able to give them, and meet a tangible need,” she said. “They were able to see God in a practical way.”