“ The support that we receive from the community is absolutely amazing. We couldn’ t do what we do without it," Executive Director Brenda Russell said.“ We get a check from the City of Somerset and Pulaski County Fiscal Court that covers about 10 percent of our total budget. The other 90 percent comes from our community. That says a lot about the people in our community.”
Russell and her staff and the hundreds of volunteers at God’ s Food Pantry have a passion and heart for the families they serve.
Because of that, they work hard to ensure that every year, along with the regular monthly food allotment, God’ s Food Pantry is able to provide everything those families need to put a Christmas dinner on their tables.
“ Every family deserves to have a Christmas dinner with their families. Christmas is a gift from us to the families on top of their regular allotment carts,” Russell said.“ Our Christmas boxes contain meat, sweet potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, gravy, rolls and a dessert. Everything they need for Christmas dinner.”
Russell said the cost of the items for the Christmas dinners for each of the families this year was $ 30,000, with the meat accounting for 50 % of that cost.
She credits local citizens for God’ s Food Pantry being able to make the meals a reality despite the huge cost.
“ This community is amazing in how much they care. People are good and their hearts are soft in November and December and they are looking to make those end of year donations," said Russell. " They have to be able to trust that you are doing the right things for the right people."
Many people confuse food banks with food pantries. The difference between food banks and food pantries is that food banks serve other agencies.
They are a distributor at a regional level, while food pantries are at the local level and serve the end user. Three Food Banks serve all of Kentucky: Feeding Kentucky America’ s Heartland in Elizabethtown, Dare to Care in Louisville and God’ s Food Bank in Lexington. Pulaski County is the westernmost of the 50 counties served by God’ s Food Bank.
God’ s Food Pantry is one of the 500 agencies that receive government commodities from the Lexington organization.
Unlike smaller agencies in its coverage area, because of the large number of families it serves, God’ s Food Bank delivers the commodities to Somerset at no cost to God’ s Food Pantry.
“ Not every agency gets a truck delivery to them, only the larger ones. We do get a truck at no cost to us, so we are blessed by that,” Russell said.“ I love our food bank. I love what they do for us. We absolutely couldn’ t do it without them. But I also know that I have to do my part and that is reaching out to my community saying, I need help.”
14 • SEKY- Southeast Kentucky Life December 2025