The Eastern New Mexico News - Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

CNJ staff photo: Liliana Castillo Kathleen Vigil with the Baptist Children's Home divides groceries for the family cottages.

Fall means an outpouring of help from churches all over the state for the Baptist Children’s Home in Portales.

For the Fall Food Shower, the home sends lists of needed items to each of the 13 Baptist church associations in the state.

Administrator Geraldine Dooley said the Fall Food Shower provides the home with 60 percent of their grocery needs.

“We ask for things that are on our menu that we would need to cook. Just staple goods that family use every day,” Dooley said.

Dooley said the home averages about 25 children, but generally needs to feed more with the staff and their families included.

“We don’t have to buy a large portion of the things that we need because of the Fall Food Shower,” Dooley said. “It’s a real blessing.”

The lists include food and toiletry items. Dooley said each association statewide participates in the drive.

First Baptist Church in Portales is one of the churches collecting items for the home.

Melissa Lamb, children’s ministry director, and her husband worked at the home for three years.

“We look at it from a little bit of a different point of view,” Lamb said. “But all churches feel it’s important to help out the children’s home. We believe in the program that they have out there and it helps them out greatly for us to stock up their pantry in the fall.”

Lamb said the church spread word about the collection to the congregation and church members have been bringing in items.

“We usually have a really good response,” Lamb said. “Their program has obviously done a lot of good for kids and family and I have personally seen kids succeed because of the children’s home. It’s a life changing program for them.”

The Fall Food Shower is an opportunity for New Mexico Baptist churches to donate to the home.