Nestled in rural Appalachian Ohio in the small town of McArthur – about a 90-minute drive from Columbus – is the St. Francis Evangelization Center. 

Many of the faithful think of the center during Thanksgiving and Christmastime – donating food, toys and goodies to bring holiday cheer. While such gifts are appreciated and needed, outside of the holiday season, the center can be largely forgotten.

Staff at the St. Francis Center, which is a food pantry and clothing center, includes director Lisa Keita, two full-time assistants and one part-time member. The team serves thousands of locals annually. 

The center is supported by volunteers, especially during the holiday season. Summer months – one of the busiest times – are when perhaps additional help is needed most.

The St. Francis Evangelization Center opened in August 1979 a couple of blocks from its current location. The rural center was part of then-Bishop Edward Herrmann’s effort to decentralize diocesan services. The center was a base for meeting the needs of non-practicing Catholics and people of all ages, especially the nonreligious.

Allen Rutter, an outreach staff member, loads a car for customers at the St. Francis Center.

Today, the St. Francis Center largely relies on the generosity of the faithful in the Diocese of Columbus to continue meeting the needs of those they serve.

While Vinton County has less than 13,000 residents, Keita estimated the center serves between 15 percent and 20 percent of the county’s population.

“Being a part of the diocese, you just have to put an ask out, and really, somebody’s going to come through,” Keita said.

She recalled a time recently that the center was low on food.

“We put a plea out in the middle of the week, next week churches told the parishioners, and then, the next week, we got filled up with donations,” she said. “Really, I don’t know how people do things like this without the support of a big church network.”

Primarily serving Vinton County, St. Francis offers several food programs to ease poverty in the region. 

Vinton County families can visit the center’s regular pantry monthly. The pantry is located in the center’s main building and open to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The center strives to provide five to seven days’ worth of food for families in emergent need.

In addition to the regular pantry, the St. Francis Center is involved with the Summer Rural Meals Program, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program for seniors and the Food Prescription Program, which serves families needing additional food each month.

Visitors to the center can make appointments.

Ashley Riegel serves as the operations manager at the St. Francis Evangelization Center.

“It was way more convenient for us to know how many people we were going to serve and who was coming, and we could be better prepared for the people that were coming,” said Ashley Riegel, the operations manager.

The regular pantry includes four mobile sites offered each week to residents in Vinton County’s four corners. Staff at the center deliver food to families in remote areas who lack transportation.

Keita, who is also director of the diocese’s Joint Organization for Inner-City Needs (J.O.I.N.) in Columbus, visits the St. Francis Center at least once a month but sometimes weekly in the summer. An increase in individuals served at the center means extra assistance distributing food boxes is needed.

“I can help deliver the food because they have a lot of other work that they have to keep on doing,” she said of the center’s staff. “To take an extra body out to deliver food, it’s not easy.”

Staff have come and gone throughout the years. Keita noted that several have gone on, such as a mother who left to stay home with her growing family, a single mother, one who left due to illness and another who took a new job.

Without a steady staff, keeping the center running can be challenging. The St. Francis Center previously had a staff member who provided physical labor. His absence has made it more difficult to handle boxes of food and other items.

“He was a big part of that, and he was a strong, big guy,” Keita said. “He could put stuff up high – he’s like 6 (feet) 3 or 6-4 – so, that made everything easier that he could just come and move. And something like that that you don’t have, it’s a big deal.

“It’s been difficult not having the people that we need, and so we started doing a choice pantry.”

In a choice pantry, individuals are given a range of how many items they can choose in various categories depending on the number in their household.

The center orders food from Campbell’s Market in Vinton County and also receives food from the Southeast Ohio Food Bank located nearby in Logan.

Lisa Keita visits the St. Francis Center at least once a month as the diocese’s director for J.O.I.N. in Columbus.

“That’s where we get probably the bulk of our food,” Keita said of the food bank. “It was really slow for a while, but it’s still not as much as we want.

“We don’t have the variety. You want to have certain things: You want to have peanut butter, you want to have spaghetti, you want to have soup, you want to have cereal.”

At one time, Vinton County had no grocery stores. Dollar General and Family Dollar were previously the only stores in the county serving as a grocery. Campbell’s Market opened in McArthur in 2017.

“It was really tough going for a while, but it was because the Walmart in Jackson or in Athens or even in Logan, prices were better,” Keita said. “But now, I think that we all will pay a little extra to keep a grocery store.”

Near Thanksgiving, several Columbus schools collect food donations for the St. Francis Center. The collection significantly helps the center during the holiday season. Still, as many, if not more, helpers and donations are needed during summer months.

The St. Francis Center distributes school supplies before the beginning of the academic year. Some diocesan parishes collect and donate supplies to the center.

Last year, the St. Francis Center distributed school supplies to 272 children and 152 households.

The clothing center is also full of shoppers during the summer season.

“This time of year, the clothing center can be busier because people are getting clothes for their kids for the school year,” Keita said.

The clothing center is open with the food pantry on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Residents of surrounding counties are invited to visit and shop at the clothing center on Thursdays.

Shoppers do not need to make an appointment. They are prompted to sign in and indicate the number of adults and children in their household.

Staci Rafferty, a St. Francis Evangelization Center outreach employee, oversees the clothing area.

“They can leave a donation if they want, but we don’t require it,” said Staci Rafferty, the community outreach coordinator. “Some people feel better if they can just leave something, and so they don’t feel like they’re getting it for free.”

Some locals come in and leave donations, Rafferty said. Diocesan parishes will also fill truckloads of clothing donations for the center.

Also available is Summer Rural Meals, a 10-week program serving children in southeast Ohio. Children signed up for the program receive a weekly box of shelf-stable food that equates to 11 meals. They also receive fresh produce.

“The kids all down here automatically get breakfast and lunch at school for free, so that’s why, the kids are home, and now the parents are providing 10 more meals per kid each week,” Keita said. “They had the babies and they know they have to take care of them, but that’s significant when you’re working on a pretty small budget, and so, it’s our responsibility to do what we can to help.”

The St. Francis Center also delivers food to families who lack transportation and live in remote areas. Staff recently delivered boxes to a family who lived as far as 30 miles out in Londonderry.

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, run by the Southeast Ohio Foodbank, provides senior citizens with monthly boxes of food. The program serves people age 60 or older and residents of a participating county.

Dolly West of Creola selects some oranges in the pantry at the St. Francis Evangelization Center.

Dolly West, who lives in Vinton County just north of McArthur in Creola, receives food at the center each month as part of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. She receives a box of food that includes rice, pasta, soups, vegetables and cheese.

“It’s helped me out so much,” West said.

Her husband, Charlie, who was killed in an accident about a year ago, picked up boxes of food at the St. Francis Center for them. Now, West picks up the food, and she appreciates the service she receives.

“They’re really nice people,” she said. “I’ll tell you – they’ve been so good to me since I lost Charlie. I think everybody knew him in there. It’s like a family deal.”

Center volunteer Parker Riegel (right) helps Deborah Boyer.

The St. Francis Center and J.O.I.N. are currently in need of donations, especially children’s and men’s casual clothing, and personal hygiene items. Diapers (sizes 4, 5 and 6), shampoo, lotion, deodorant, soap, toilet paper, shaving cream, razors and toothpaste are needed. Household items are also in demand, such as multipurpose cleaner, dish soap, laundry pods and sponges.

Individuals can drop off donations at their parish. Monetary donations are also appreciated and helpful for purchasing food.

For questions regarding donations or to volunteer, contact Riegel at [email protected].