BonnerSprings.com

After four years, the Lula Belle Mission Center at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, 2010 S. 98th St., has its own building.

The new building, a former two-car garage, will house the household goods, clothing, books and other goods the center collects to give away each Wednesday and Thursday, and free up the church's basement for Sunday school.

The new building was donated about four years ago after Mary Kimbrough, a member of the church, volunteer and co-director of the center, noticed a building still on the lot of Precision Homes, 11401 Kaw Drive, after the manufactured home seller had removed the rest of its property on the site.

The church's mission giveaway program got its roots in an October 2004 garage sale conducted by church member Joann Zewalk. After the sale, she had many items left unsold, so she and fellow congregant Mary Kimbrough spoke with Pleasant Hill's then-pastor, the Rev. Willis Garner, about having a giveaway of items at the church. Garner approved of the idea and the Mission Center was born.

The first giveaway was the next month, where 113 families picked up clothing and household items donated by Zewalk and a few dozen church members. Subsequent giveaways followed monthly after that, and last year, the center counted a total of 1,786 families served.

There are no requirements for receiving goods from the center, Kimbrough said, "but take what you need and need what you take."

The mission program was named after Lula Belle Newton, wife of the late Rev. Roscoe Newton Sr., who was pastor of Pleasant Hill from l963 to 2001.

Kimbrough said the items the center can't give away are donated to other local charities.

On Tuesday Kimbrough and Marlyn Abbott, co-directors of the center, were hard at work moving goods from the church basement to the white building a few yards to its east.

The new building has received a makeover, with a new interior, including bathroom, kitchen and floor tiles and shelves, for which the church's Deacon Burlon Newton is mostly responsible. Newton served as the building project manager and worked so much on the site, wrote the Rev. James Abbott in history for the building's dedication service, "some neighbors thought he lived in the mission building."

The building project was made possible through funds raised by the church, an anonymous gift of $10,000 and a $3,542 contribution from Oak Ridge Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kan.

The total project cost was $21,044, excluding the donation of the building, contracting, electrical and other work donated by church and community members.

A dedication service for the new building will be at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the church

The center's giveaways are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Wednesday and Thursday. For more information and to arrange for pickup of items, call the Rev. James Abbott at (913) 422-5607.

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