Ft. Worth church funnels 8,200 jars of baby food

FORT WORTH?”I have 8,200 jars of baby food, do you want them?”

That’s probably not a question most people face every day. But that was the question posed to Westland Heights Baptist Church Pastor Richard McCormack.

McCormack said he received a call on a recent Monday morning from someone asking if he could use three pallets of baby food?two pallets of squash and spaghetti noodles and one pallet of nonperishable baby cereal. He said yes. Then reality set in: “What I’m I going to do with 8,200 jars of baby food?” he thought.

The church kicked around a few ideas, including sending the food to Mexico. Then they began to ponder who in their neighborhood could use this type of gift.

McCormack’s wife called the Fort Worth Pregnancy Center and the Pregnancy Help Center, also in Fort Worth, to see if they might have needs. Both said yes, and most of the food was redistributed to these outlets.

Polly Isinghood, director of the Pregnancy Help Center in west Fort Worth, said they see about 130 women per month. The center offers free pregnancy tests, sonograms, parenting videos and food to young women in the Fort Worth area.

She said women are referred to her office through various means, including high schools, the web page and telephone book advertisements.

“Word of mouth is usually the biggest,” Isinghood said.

The church donated about 100 cases of the baby food jars and 25 cases of the baby cereal to Isinghood’s agency.