With the help of some willing volunteers, the Good Shepherd Center's new food pantry is open for business on Water Street in Greenville.

The center, which recently bought the building with the aid of grants and gifts, serves about 350 families from 23 churches.

"The main thing the new building will offer to the people we serve is privacy," said Susan Franklin, executive director of the center.

When Ms. Franklin took over 12 years ago, the Good Shepherd Center was basically just a food pantry, she said. Now, the faith-based outreach program offers a used clothing store, household goods, a recycling program and a free health clinic.

"There is something going on all the time now," Ms. Franklin said. "The new building will offer people who need to use the food pantry privacy. We just couldn't offer that here any more," she said of the Main Street location.

After the building was purchased, there was a multitude of work to be done to turn it into a food pantry, Ms. Franklin said.

Area businesses donated services, from installing the refrigeration system to the use of a flatbed truck to move heavy equipment.

"What humbles me is how the work here is still continuing," Ms. Franklin said during the move. While scores of volunteers were working to get the thousands of pounds of food from the old location to the new, the Good Shepherd Center's daily operations were continuing.

What makes her very thankful, she said, is the show of support from the community.

A group of football players from Thiel College stopped by to lend muscle to the effort, Ms. Franklin said, and students from the Greenville High School Career Club also took time out to help in the move.

"We all do what we can to serve," Ms. Franklin said.

For more information, contact the Good Shepherd Center at (724) 588-2210.

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