DOWAGIAC — 2019 for ACTION Ministries could be described as a year of success sprinkled in with some sadness.

ACTION Ministries Center in Dowagiac, a nonprofit which runs a fixed food pantry, acts as transitional housing and hosts mobile food pantries through the help of ACTION’s church partners and volunteers, found success in continuing to help the community, said Jeff Neumann, the media liaison for ACTION Ministries. However, sadness also impacted the ACTION Ministries team.

“Our president [Karen Benedix] lost her husband in October. That was a big deal,” he said.

Also in 2019, the transitional housing ministry changed from housing men to women, which Neumann said was a minor shift but the ministry will need to address different needs.

ACTION continued another year of partnering with C. Wimberley Ford to fundraise for the Feed the Hungry Campaign. Donations collected throughout the holiday season raised more than $28,000, Neumann said.

“That will pay for our mobile food pantries that come to town twice a month next year and any leftover will go to the pantry itself,” he said.

ACTION also annually partnered with Family Fare again for two fundraisers. This year, they received a donation through SpartanNash’s receipt return program, Direct Your Dollars. Once the ministry collected up to $150,000 in receipts, it received a $1,000 donation. ACTION’s food pantry also received 100 percent of the donations made in Family Fare’s register scan, which took place from Oct. 23 to Nov. 3.

In 2019, ACTION Ministries reported 2,230 families, representing 7,302 people, were fed by the food pantry. ACTION distributed 114 Senior Commodities every month. The Emergency Food Assistance Program served 130 families throughout the year.

Lastly, the mobile food pantries brought in more than 100,000 pounds of food last year, Neumann said.

Another aspect of ACTION is volunteerism. Neumann said the ministry had about 90 to 95 names listed as volunteers this year.

It takes 16 volunteers to run the food pantry; 16 volunteers, twice a month to run the mobile food pantry; eight volunteers help with TFPA on a quarterly basis; and four volunteers are needed to help run the senior commodities.

“Those are the basic numbers that it takes,” Neumann said. “Sometimes, we have more or less. We’ve added to the list of volunteers.”

Looking to the future, ACTION Ministries will have a regular board meeting next week and a community meeting on Jan. 20.

“That’s where anybody can come and look at the ministry,” Neumann said. “That’s where we have a discussion about what should we look at. What else should we do and how should we enhance things?”

This year, ACTION will be getting new board members. Neumann hopes those new bonds will continue to be strengthened.

“We also want to make sure the load is spread,” Neumann said. “Listening for opportunities but making sure people are in place before we venture out. Who knows where it will expand.”

Neumann said in the coming years, the transitional housing program may expand after a woman, who is still alive, left her home to ACTION Ministries in her will.

“We might need more people to take care of it, trustees, maintenance and all that stuff.”

Another focus in 2020 will be an individual membership push. ACTION has gone from operating as Area Churches Together in One Network to Area Christians Together in One Network.

“We haven’t done a good job recruiting individuals, churches and business as members,” Neumann said. “I would like to make that a stated goal for right away. …There are a lot of interested people.”