Cridlin
Food & Clothing Pantry

It is an organization that was started in 1970, almost 35 years ago and operates in the basement of TEC.

It was named after the Rev. Elwood Cridlin and his wife Dorothy because of their contributions to this ministry.

The pantry was organized by the Christians Associates, which is a group made up of 12 area churches. They started the pantry because they saw a need in their local community to help low income families that needed immediate assistance with food and clothing. Also for the homeless people that needed blankets or warm clothes.

The ones that qualify for help are low income families that are residents of Cabell & Wayne counties. These people are required to register with Information and Referral who are located in the Cabell County Library. They must present a valid ID and proof of residency. Then depending on their income and size of family, they are issued a referral slip that they must present to the pantry. They will then be allowed enough food for their family for two weeks and 2 outfits of clothing each.

Also, people can be referred by one of the local churches, Red Cross, Branches or other various non-profit organizations. However, people are rarely turned away empty handed for lack of qualifications or referrals. Diana Vanhorn, who is the current director of the pantry, is very compassionate and she somehow always finds a way to help these people and in the words of The Rev. Kevin Kelly, “They get that help in a way that helps them maintain their dignity.”

Quite a few families are helped through out the year. According to the Pantry’s 2004 annual report, the number of families helped last year was just under 1200 and you can see that number has increased about 91% since in first opened in 1970.

To continue to help these families, the pantry relies on the generosity of the community. This can come in the form of money, food, clothing and/or time. Donations come from different sources: Support from the 12 area churches, grants from FEMA, various fund raisers and food drives and of course individual contributions.

In the financial report submitted to the Christian Assc at their annual meeting last year, the pantry received approx $28,000 in funding and their expenses were a little over $22,000. The amount of hours worked by volunteers clocked in at 2600 hours.