AL SCHELL/Courier-Post Congregants, including Paula Lowe (center) of Camden, pray before distributing information on events at Solid Rock Worship Center.

By KIM MULFORD
Courier-Post Staff

Last year, when the Solid Rock Worship Center held its annual Easter food giveaway, nearly 2,000 people showed up for free bags of nonperishable food.

The event caused such a backup on White Horse Pike in Lindenwold it showed up on the radio traffic report, recalled church member Michele McCrey of Camden.

This year, the church hired two police officers to handle the expected crush.

Together with Larry Jones' nonprofit ministry Feed the Children, the church is giving away about 40,000 pounds of nonperishable food in its parking lot today from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

There will be free dental exams, free medical exams and screenings, free pony rides, a free Easter egg hunt for the children, free face painting, free hot dogs and soda, free balloons and free entertainment provided by the church's choir, praise dance and step teams.

The church distributed 4,000 fliers and 5,000 door hangers. It has run announcements on the radio and in local newspapers.

"We want to let people know they're invited," said McCrey, 50. "It's free. There are no gimmicks, nothing."

This is nothing unusual at the church, where about 500 people attend services each Sunday. It has also held food giveaways in Camden. It has bused in people from shelters, nursing homes and halfway houses for dinners in a hotel ballroom, where they eat on china, not Chinette.

On Labor Day, church members set up large grills in parks where they know people are getting high or drunk. They give away sodas, hot dogs and prayers.

That's the way the Rev. Amir Khan, the church's senior pastor, does things, explains McCrey, who volunteers full time at the 10-year-old church.

"He goes all out for people," she said. "He loves souls."

Arnold Steward of Camden loves souls, too. A former military man, Steward was on the verge of starting his own ministry in Camden. Six years ago, he decided to join forces with Khan, his longtime friend. He is now associate minister at Solid Rock, in charge of the outreach ministry.

"How can you preach to a hungry man the love of God unless you first feed him? Or the naked man unless you first clothe him?" Steward asked. "We know we can't save the whole world, but we try to do what we can in our small neck of the woods."

The food giveaway has a fun-and-games atmosphere because the church doesn't want people to feel like they're just getting a hand-out. The church wants to protect people's dignity, Steward said.

"We try our best not to let people think we're doing this because we have to," Steward said. "They know their problem. We're trying to alleviate it."

So people come. From all races, all ages, all places.

Each bag given will contain food and a flier inviting people to attend Sunday's Easter service at Lindenwold High School. If people want prayer on Saturday, they'll get it, along with follow-up.

Amazing things happen at these food giveaways. Once, a brother and sister living in different shelters in Camden were reunited after many years of separation.

Another time, Steward said, a woman came up to Khan at a food giveaway in Camden and told him, "Tonight was my night."

He didn't understand. She explained. "I was going to end it all." She was going to turn her last trick, buy drugs and overdose.

That night, at least, she was saved.

"I have seen her since then," Steward said. "It's good to see that she didn't do what she had planned on doing. We keep her in our prayers and thank God that was the intervention that we could do that night."

It's a simple gesture, giving away food. But to the members at Solid Rock, it means much more.

"It's just to let people know that Jesus loves them, that they're special and that they're somebody," explained McCrey. "When you have a lot of people who are drug dealers or addicts, they think, `Jesus didn't die for me. I can't go to church.' "

"All you have to do is repent, turn to God and God will forgive you," she added. "This is what this is all about. To reach souls."

If you go
Solid Rock Worship Center will hold its Easter Food Giveaway from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in the church's parking lot at 421 White Horse Pike, Lindenwold. For more information, call (856) 309-9002 and ask for the Outreach Department.