The food pantry at Ellis Creek Baptist Church also saw a marked increase in the number of people seeking assistance in the month of November. The pantry supplied food to 126 families in November, up from 104 families in October and 98 in September, according to food pantry coordinators Calvin and Deloris Davis. The numbers have also risen from last year’s holiday season, when the pantry served 89 families in November and 84 families in December. In the month of November, the Ellis Creek Baptist Church food pantry distributed 8,635 pounds of food, and 3,215 pounds of that food was fresh produce. The food pantry had 16 new applications for assistance last month. Deloris Davis said the reasons the applicants cited for needing food assistance were recently moving to the area, job loss, illness, and only receiving a week’s worth of SNAP benefits instead of a month’s worth of benefits. She also noted that 85% of the people the food pantry serves are senior citizens. Calvin and Deloris Davis explained that the mission of the church is to serve others, and offering food assistance in a rural community with no grocery stores and scarce access to other resources has been a real blessing. “We’re small in number, but we’re big in heart,” Deloris Davis said. The food pantry distributes food on Tuesdays following the second Monday of each month from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The next distribution date is Dec. 9. The food pantry is located at 2159 Coles Ferry Road in Nathalie. Julian K. Miller is the pastor Ellis Creek Baptist Church.