It was not that many years ago that Vicky Rushing found herself in need of a little help.
"You have to put that pride on the back burner. It's hard to come and ask for help," Rushing said.
Rushing put her pride on the back burner and reached out to Second Harvest Food Bank.
Once she was able to get back on her feet, she began to volunteer her time.
"I was working with other food pantries with Second Harvest."
Then Covid hit.
Rushing said she had to slow down on volunteering but saw an increased need in assistance. God, she said, led her on next steps to open a food pantry in Jennings, one that could serve all of Jeff Davis Parish.
"God opened the doors for here," Rushing said. "A friend of ours contacted the owner of this building that has been sitting here for eight years. I told her we wanted to open up a non-profit food group and we couldn't pass up the deal she gave us on the location."
The doors to God's Pantry opened off Highway 26 in Jennings in the Spring of 2020. The number of people utilizing their services....
"We divide our groups into two Saturdays....we have about six hundred families every Saturday."
Those numbers, Rushing said, are only increasing with the price of good on the rise.
The Pantry recently received a grant for a brand-new walk-in freezer to help with the growing need for meat.
"We got a grant from the Louisiana Department of Revenue Services," Rushing said. "We were one of 476 people to receive the blessing from the grant status. That was one of the first grants that I applied for, and I didn't think that I would receive it."
From being down on her luck, to now paying it forward, Rushing said she will continue to do what she can to make sure her neighbors have what the need to build their life back up.