Mother Taylor is an old, quiet woman in her mid-seventies. She lives in a small house in the rural town of Baldwin, Fla. After losing her husband, Mother Taylor had trouble caring for herself and her two dogs. She was alone, hungry, and needed help.

Late one warm summer evening, The Reverend Larry Riley was checking his phone messages at New St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, a cozy house of worship nestled off one of Baldwin’s country roads. The voice on the other end of the line was weak and feeble. It was Mother Taylor.

“Reverend Riley,” she said. “This is Mother Taylor, and I’m hungry. Do you have any food you can spare?”

Now, The Reverend had known Mother Taylor and her husband for a long time. They had never had to ask for help in the past, so The Reverend knew she was struggling deeply with the loss of her husband. The Reverend immediately packed up a box of food from the church’s food pantry and went to Mother Taylor’s house.

The Reverend knocked on her door and could hear the barking of the dogs from inside. Slowly, the door opened and Mother Taylor welcomed him in. The Reverend couldn’t help but notice how dark the house was. The only light in sight peeked through from her bedroom, where her and her two treasured canine companions spent most of their time.

“Hello, Reverend Riley,” she said.

“Hello, Mother Taylor.”

As The Reverend unloaded the contents of the food box, a big smile began to show across her face. Grateful for The Reverend’s answer to her only call for aid, Mother Taylor said, in quiet relief, “Me and the dogs can eat well now. Thank you, Reverend.”

Today, Mother Taylor is still smiling. Because of her church’s membership with the Lutheran Social Services Second Harvest Food Bank, The Reverend Riley and New St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church have been able to provide a food pantry for the hungry in Baldwin and parts of Duval County since August 15, 1998. New St. Paul Missionary Baptist shares food with the Food Bank at 10 cents per pound, allowing the church’s pantry to serve more people than ever before.

There are a lot of Mother Taylors in every community that depend on the love and kindness of someone else. With the help of the LSS Second Harvest Food Bank, hundreds of churches, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and senior citizen centers in Northeast Florida are able to reach out to their neighbors in need and make a difference in the fight against hunger.