By Wayne Clark
The Valley Times-News

WEST POINT — Ann Adams is a good neighbor in her community through her work in the West Point Food Closet. She’s helped hundreds of people in the West Point area over the past decade or so. She’s also been active with the Food Closet since retiring from the insurance business around ten years ago.

The skills she acquired in dealing with the public and record keeping have assisted her greatly in this role.

“I enjoy helping people,” she said. “There are people out there who are really, really in need. There are grandmothers raising their grandchildren. There are some sad situations out there.”

Adams was with the Food Closet when it was located in the basement of the West Point gym. It’s now at the West Point First Baptist Church. First Baptist, West Point First Methodist and the West Point Presbyterian Church are the driving forces behind the West Point Food Closet.

The Food Closet is open every Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. until noon. Recipients have to have a valid ID and proof of residency in the West Point area.

“The food we receive is for Georgia residents,” Adams said. “We get it from the Feeding of the Valley program in LaGrange. We serve approximately 120 residents each month. We were down a little bit in April. We only had 96.”

The Food Closet also gets donations from other sources. Once a year, first graders from Springwood School bring nonperishable food donations as part of their Wildcat Workday project. They also help stock the shelves while they are there.

“We get donations from local businesses,” Adams said, noting that what gets donated is appreciated, and it goes right back out in the community to help people in need.

Households are served once every two months.

“We give them a lot of food,” Adams said. “I couldn’t do it without our staff. I have some very dependable people in David Ayres, Austin Cook, George Jacobs and Liz Edmondson. They are there every Wednesday. If they have a conflict and can’t be there, they will call in advance and let you know.”