Cars line up at Chicora church for needed aid
CHICORA — High atop the hill overlooking the small Chicora church, the parking lot just off West Slippery Rock Street is packed bumper to bumper in neat rows.
Volunteers direct traffic as the spring temperatures, so warm just days before, suddenly drop to the point of winter coats and gloves.
At the heart of this sea of cars, trucks and SUVs of every make and model, Pastor John Pistorius winds his way between bumpers, greeting both the faces he knows and those new to him with the same warm, welcoming smile and greeting.
“God bless you,” he says. “How are you today? How many in your family?”
As the pastor of Christ's Family Church in Chicora, Pistorius finds himself on a mission to feed not only the tight-knit Donegal Township community, but people from throughout the county.
“My dad — God rest his soul — said strike while the iron is hot,” Pistorius said of his effort to ensure milk, produce and other food gets into the hands of hurting families by opening his heart and his parking lot. “So my dad is touching all these people right now.”
A child of the Great Depression, Pistorius said his dad was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He talks of how his hero, the late Norman Pistorius, always taught his children to never pass up a moment in time when they could help another.
The younger Pistorius said the food giveaways started when he was contacted by a dairy that needed to unload product or dump it. He said he'd find a way to distribute the milk and from there the dominos started falling as more places reached out and he started coordinating with other food pantries.
Tearing up as he looks out at the cars continuing to pull into the cramped parking lot, Pistorius talks of how his heart aches when he thinks of all the families — especially those with children — hurt by the ongoing pandemic.
“I just hope we can keep helping,” Pistorius said. “A lot of people are paralyzed by that fear (of COVID-19). But that fear is what motivates us. It moves us to do what we're doing.”
On Thursday, Pistorius and a handful of volunteers gave out more than 1,300 pounds of butter, reaching more than 1,200 people throughout the county. More than 100 cars made their way through the line to the makeshift tent, where they were handed two pounds of butter per family.
“I think it's totally awesome that everybody is together,” said Steve Birckbichler. “It's a great idea to help the community out.”
Waiting patiently inside his truck during the long line, the 69-year-old Chicora man said he and his wife never expected to live through anything like the coronavirus in all their years together.
Thursday's giveaway was the sixth hosted by Christ's Family Church in just one week. The also handed out lettuce, cabbage, bread and other products — whatever has been donated to them. Last week, the church helped distribute more than 1,600 gallons of milk.
Cars have been picking up food for multiple families, Pistorius said.
“Our parking lot can't hold 1,000 cars or even 100,” he said. “We've been giving donations to people who are picking up for neighbors and aunts and uncles. I couldn't tell you how much we've given away.”
After his first day giving away milk that would have otherwise gone to waste last week, Pistorius said several volunteers started showing up to help — whether it was directing traffic or passing supplies through open car windows.
One of those volunteers, John Compton (“as in Straight Outta,” he'll tell you) is roofer by trade. But by heart, the 55-year-old Fenelton man is among the “helpers” that Fred Rogers' mother would tell her impressionable son to look for in times of trouble.
“God set us up to do this,” Compton said as he flagged a car through to the tent. “Nothing surprises me about all this. Satan is a very hard worker, but God is all around us. Put your faith in God everything works itself out.”
Eagle staff writer Mike Kilroy contributed to this report.
