SHADY COVE — After devoting themselves to a Shady Cove church’s monthly food pantry for 15 years, the husband and wife at the helm of an operation that’s helped their community — from the Great Recession to the pandemic to the South Obenchain Fire — have passed the baton.

The baton was actually more of a clipboard, according to longtime St. Martin’s Episcopal Church pantry volunteer Bill Mower.

Mower on Friday handed his slate to one of his successors, Debi Weth, in a small ceremony leading up to Friday’s church pantry at the location on Cleveland Street. Mower and his wife, MaryEllen, have been active with the no-questions-asked monthly pantry in Shady Cove since its inception around 2009, and have taken a leadership role in the church pantry for more than a decade.

 “You guys are coming next time, right?” Weth joked to her audience of more than a dozen volunteers. In the background, motorists in a line of cars that spanned half a mile waited for their turn at grocery stations in the church parking lot, where they waited to pick from items ranging from pet food to fresh produce. 

Weth said that she has spent the past four months shadowing the Mowers trying to glean leadership insights from them. Next month, she’ll handle much of the ordering and collection duties while another volunteer will handle duties such as grants.

Bill Mower said that he is trying to facilitate rapports between Weth and the local businesses involved.

“You really have to know them if you want any favors,” he said.

According to Rev. Laura Sheridan-Campbell with St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, the food pantry outreach ministry has grown from a small program funded by church members paying $10 a month into a program utilizing thousands of dollars in grant funding that serves hundreds every month.

Bill Mower remembered when the pantry operation helped less than two dozen people in a month. As of last month, it helped 173 families — roughly 500 people. Pantry volunteers expected to help a similar number by the end of the day Friday.

Those helped are only asked to provide their first name and a number of people in their household, which they use for the count.

No one is turned away at the monthly event, according to Sheridan-Campbell. Because the church does not ask for proof of income or residency, it cannot work with ACCESS or other organizations that require income qualifications.

Instead, the church coordinates with other organizations, including Rogue Community Health, Jackson Care Connect, the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon’s Diocesan Poverty and Homelessness Commission.

The Mowers eagerly shared credit with other volunteers who made the program into what it is today. Bill Mower, for instance, highlighted the help volunteer Bud Kracker made to converting an old trailer into a food storage facility.

“Bud did all the inside work,” Bill Mower said. “He’s a pretty handy guy.”

Kracker reflected on the Mowers’ own efforts, saying that there will “never be another bunch like us!”

“Everyone is just working together,” MaryEllen Mower said. “We all combine to do this.”

Sheridan-Campbell praised the way the Mowers fostered community unity.

“The real gift they have brought is they’ve brought an entire community together in service to God,” Sheridan-Campbell said.

The Mowers have had ties to the Shady Cove community going back to 1963. After a career that included retiring from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs jobs in Los Angeles and working while living in Christmas Valley in Oregon, the couple have spent the past two decades finding ways to give back at home.

“We both came from families where there wasn’t much,” Bill Mower said, adding that “we both were blessed with good jobs.”

Weth said that she has been involved in the church pantry for about 12 years. She described the program as near and dear to her heart.

“You gotta have a lot of faith with the loaves and the fishes,” she said.

She said she enjoys helping people, hearing their stories and seeing them smile. Sometimes just by saying hello, she makes a person’s day.

“It’s a joy to make people happy, make them feel good,” Weth said.

Weth said that she loves the program. Before she stopped working full time in July, the church pantry was how she would use up her vacation days.

“That’s just how I took my vacation days — every Friday I wasn’t available,” Weth said.

For more information about the church pantry and church happenings, see stmartinshadycove.org.