The Feed Center Outreach Ministry seeks to reclaim and restore

Look north and to the left from the intersection of Carver Drive and Pearson Mill Street and there’s a house with a sign saying Feed Center Free Medical Clinic.

Next to that is a house with a sign saying it’s the youth house, home to Feed Center youth ministries and STAMP, the Student Transitioning and Mentoring Program.

Behind the youth house is the Feed Center’s emergency food bank. This time of year there might be a bin of collard greens in the yard being sorted for distribution along with grocery bags filled from shelves of canned goods and other items inside.

Across the street and back toward the intersection is the original Feed Center Outreach Ministry house, now the center’s office with multipurpose rooms.

Just a little farther south, at the intersection of Carver Drive and Fagan Circle, is the recently established — and renovated — Feed Center Family Worship Center pastored by Al Sanders and his wife, Chywana.

Sanders and his wife are founders and directors of the Feed Center Outreach Ministry begun in 2005 after Sanders retired from a 20-year Air Force career. He said the non-profit ministry was created with the goal of “glorifying God and showing people Jesus’ love and mercy through helping street people get off the street and back on their feet.”

Sanders said early efforts included the Feed Center’s ongoing drug and alcohol recovery program that provides affordable — and free — services that recognize clients’ biological, emotional and spiritual needs. Plus, he said there’s an aftercare program that’s problem-solving focused.

Sanders points out that all of the houses up and down the street, which have become home to Feed Center ministries, were once condemned but have been reclaimed and restored for service in the community.

“Same as a lot of the people we serve,” he said. “You get that, right?”

Looking around, he sees other empty, dilapidated houses wasting away or — he said if he gets his way — waiting for the same reclamation and use.

And again, making a hopeful face, Sanders said, “Just like so many more people around here.”

Sanders said these streets are home.

“I’m from here,” he said. “I grew up poor in Fort Valley in the projects with, let’s see, five or so of us in a small house. I was pretty much raised by my grandparents. I didn’t like being poor and I didn’t like seeing anybody having to suffer or go through those hardships.”

Sanders said he wasn’t really interested in church things as a youngster.

“I was an average kid,” he said. “I never went to jail but did what I could get away with. I was into sports. I played football and basketball at Peach County High School.”

Sanders graduated in 1985 and went straight into the military.

Oddly, considering the non-stop, action-oriented, people-person he is today — a man who will talk to anyone in a second about getting involved with the Feed Center or about Jesus — he said he had a bad stuttering problem as a kid.

“I didn’t interface with a lot of people and only had a couple of friends,” he said. “I talk to people now. I interface a lot.”

Sanders said he gave his life to God in 2001, nearing the end of his time in the Air Force. He said both he and Chywana had post-retirement jobs lined up in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where they and their three children planned to move. But in 2004, God spoke to him clearly about going to Fort Valley instead, even with no work lined up or a place to live. He said God provided and brought together a group of Christians who helped start the Feed Center, fixing up the ministry’s first house.

Sanders spent time studying God’s word, praying and hitting the streets talking to people. He often wore sports jerseys to help start conversations.

“I got a lot of help and encouragement and still do,” he said. “The intention was never to start a church. I did not want to until God gave us a church building and a word that it was something we should do. I just wanted to minister to people and meet needs. We do what God leads us to do and he meets the need. God has given us donors, volunteers and partners to do what we do. It’s amazing to see.”

Sanders said his mentors included Andy King of Christ Chapel Warner Robins, where the Sanders attended for a season.

“I heard Andy encourage Christians to invest in other people’s lives and I challenged him to invest in me,” Sanders said. “We met for years talking about leadership and my Christian life. He taught me my job is to love people and do what God says. That had a huge impact on me and the Feed Center.”

Judging by the range of ministries, God apparently tells Sanders to do a lot and gives him partners to help — from individuals recovering from alcoholism and former street people, to health and educational professionals from The Medical Center of Peach County, Navicent Health.

Dr. Crystal Brown has a private family practice in Fort Valley and is chief of staff at The Medical Center of Peach County, Navicent Health. She helped establish the Feed Center’s medical clinic in 2009 and still volunteers along with Dr. Gururaj Nayak and Dr. Gary Myrthil.

“Even though government healthcare has grown, there’s a need for a clinic like this for uninsured people,” Brown said. “Georgia did not expand Medicaid, so people not eligible for subsides slipped through the gaps. Rev. Sanders wanted to start the clinic and it was an immediate yes from me. A lot of people said there should be one, but stopped at all the reasons it could never work. It took somebody like him to just take it on and do it.”

Brown, who doesn’t attend the Feed Center worship center, said the clinic isn’t a free walk-in, urgent care office but rather a free chronic disease clinic for qualified patients.

“And it’s not an ER,” she said. “Patients qualify in advance then see us regularly. We deal a lot with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and lung patients. We provide exams, write prescriptions and give regular follow-ups free of charge. And we prevent a lot of hospital admissions through what we do.”

Dedrea McCrary is a former math teacher and vice principal in Bibb County. Declining eyesight forced her early retirement but it doesn’t stop her from heading the Feed Center STAMP program.

“We mostly work with at-risk students first through fifth grade,” she said. “We’re expanding that to sixth grade, though, because the fifth graders say they want to keep coming. I think that’s a good sign.”

McCrary said there is a boys program and girls program.

“Our default focus is reading and math but our priority is their school work,” she said. “We allow them to work on homework and give them help with trouble areas they’re having. We partner with schools who supply snacks, and we have mentors, some great ones from Fort Valley State College and University. The real blessing is we can track students’ improving grades. We stress education is the way to a better life. I love doing this. It lets me teach again.”

There are more volunteers and ministries, like the Feed the Women ministry, a True Love Waits ministry, intercession ministry and too many more to highlight.

Almost one around every corner.

“I believe God touched my heart to minister and help the lost, the needy, the suffering, and all these people are here to do it, too,” Sanders said. “First of all Chywana, my wife. While I was working getting this off the ground she worked two jobs. There’s no way to add up her value. And my real mom who became a Christian in later years was an inspiration. She was always willing to help the underdog. And this is real. This is what we do. This is what God is doing through all the volunteers and help and people who donate and have become part of the Feed Center to help others. It’s declaring God’s love through action and through words. I’m living my dream and getting to interact with people God trusts us enough to send to us: hurting people whose hurts he can heal.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 8:13 AM with the headline "The Feed Center Outreach Ministry seeks to reclaim and restore."