BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey, Editor
Pastor Russ Berry and his wife Nancy had been looking for a new site for their growing church and food pantry when they happened on a rental on the corner of Main and Congress.
As Pastor Russ tells it -a divine kind of destiny determined where the ministry landed after outgrowing an old location on U.S. Highway 19.
After taking over the Christian Secure Ministry a couple of years ago, the Berrys had settled on a new name – Hopeville Family Ministries.
While researching origins of local names on the Fivay.org historical website, they learned that Hopeville was the name of an old post office established in Port Richey in 1878.
When the couple toured the rental and saw it was located next to the New Port Richey post office, they knew they were home.
Nancy and Russ Berry
“The Lord put us here in this location and right next to the post office,” said Berry, who with his wife has long been in ministry; first in Virginia Beach where their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren still reside, and in recent years in Holiday and New Port Richey.
The Berrys signed the lease about nine months ago “at a real good price,” Pastor Russ said. The four rental units they acquired house a 90-seat church, a food pantry, an arts and event center that’s being remodeled, and a modest office.
There Pastor Russ displays an early map of the area on the wall where he can point out Hopeville as proof that the ministry is where it is supposed to be.
Their mission, said Nancy Berry, “is to make a positive impact on our city by trying to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of people.”
Come Saturday morning, parishioners and volunteers at the food pantry get to work sorting and handing out 30 to 40-pound bundles of food to some 300 local families and individuals in need. Another 250-300 families are served each Friday at a satellite location at Gulfview Grace Church in Port Richey, Russ said.
About 850 pounds of meat and frozen food moves in and out each week, and are temporarily stored in nine stand-up freezers. Dry and canned goods are stocked in an adjacent storeroom with loaves of bread and pastries stacked on tables in the church sanctuary.
“Logistically that comes to about 8,000 pounds of meat when the freezers are full and we empty that out each week,” said Mike Hartley, who heads the Friday morning drive-up distribution effort at Gulfview Grace Church and helps out on Saturdays at the Hopeville Family Ministries food pantry.
“This is why we are here,” he said. “To worship the Lord by feeding people.”
The food in large-part comes via two weekly deliveries from Feeding Tampa Bay, a member of Feeding America. Anywhere from 40 to 60 steady and occasional volunteers help sort, label, stock and distribute the food each week, Nancy Berry said, adding that volunteers also pick up food items donated by businesses such as Winn-Dixe, Save-A-Lot, Sprouts, Target, 7-11 and Starbucks.
“We’ve never had to beg for volunteers. We’ve always had more than enough,” she said, adding that they are trying to get the word out to locals who have not heard of them, as well as regular clients who have yet to find the new location
Clients are referred through a network of local churches, service agencies and the United Way’s 211 telephone referral service. Each is asked to fill out a contact form on their first visit so they can be counted in the weekly tally, and to anticipate future needs.
On a recent Saturday there were more than a few newcomers lining up as volunteers and clients sang Coming After Me, following along with the lyrics on two flat-screened TVs. The rise in newcomers has been the case at local food pantries due the economic fall-out of the pandemic, Hartley said.
“We’re seeing people who seem to be – look to be – more affluent, but are needing food, ” he said. “A lot of people are out of work – lost their jobs.”
“But this here is good thing.,” he said. “Look here: God provides.”
NOTE:
- Hopeville Family Ministries distributes food from 8 a.m. to 12 noon each Saturday at the church and food pantry at 6508 Main Street, New Port Richey. For information, service requests or to volunteer, go to their website or call (727) 992-5087.
- Gulfview Grace Church distributes food from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. each Friday at the Family Life Center at 6639 Hammock Road, Port Richey. For information, go to their website, or call (727) 862-7777.
A little history
From the fivay.org website
HOPEVILLE. A post office named Hopeville was established in 1878. Often the first postmaster named the post office. The first postmaster was James Washington Clark. He is thought to have named the post office for the Hope family who were early settlers. Clark married Frances Louise Hope. Frances Clark Mallett writes, “Although there are almost no written records on the early history of Port Richey and the Hopeville area, oral history passed down through old-time residents and descendants indicates that Hopeville was settled in the mid 1800s. It once was the site of a salt works that supplied local residents and the Confederate Army. David and Henry Hope, two early settlers of the Chicuchatta (Brooksville) settlement, were two of the Hopes who established the tiny community of Hopeville at the salt springs.”
Jeff Miller is a historian and digital archivist for the Historical Society. He is a retired math teacher from Gulf High School and produces the fivay.org website which contains an enormous amount of historical information and photos from Pasco County.
Contact Michele Miller at mmiller@whatswhatnewportrichey.com
Related
- The Way Back, What’s What New Port Richey
- History Connections, What’s What New Port Richey
