Scott City church reaches out to community through pizza giveaway

As social distancing helps to slow the spread of COVID-19, churches are finding creative ways to reach the community while being physically apart.

Saturday evening, First Baptist Church in Scott City served close to 300 families with large pizzas, providing a hot meal. Volunteers in masks and gloves gave away boxes of pizza in the parking lot of the church, which was set up similar to a fast-food drive through.

Pastor Jeremy Sells said he was looking for a practical way to show support for the community when Aaron Eades of Cape Girardeau approached him with the idea for a pizza giveaway.

Eades, who grew up attending First Baptist, said he wanted a way to benefit families in need while still adhering to social distancing rules. Pizza, he said, was a way to ensure families don’t have to worry about one meal. Sells added, “Everyone loves pizza!” So he felt the meal would be an easy way to build community.

An order of some 400 large pizzas from Pizza Inn and Little Caesars later, cars lined up in the parking lot of the church. Several booths were set up by volunteers to direct traffic and distribute the pizzas. Sells said most attendees mentioned they loved the opportunity to be with others, even if the cars and volunteers were physically distanced.

Community outreach director Kyle Brown said while social distancing regulations have changed the way First Baptist operates, the church has still found ways to reach out. Social media has been a huge resource, Brown said, and helps to connect church members who cannot be physically together. In addition, he said individuals at home have more of an opportunity to reach out to their neighbors.

“As a body of Christ, we’ve pretty much built churches in every home that we reside in,” Brown said. “We’re getting to actually know our neighbors. And through that, in the future, especially here in Scott City, I think we’re going to see a great healing of our community because of that.”

Sells said it’s also difficult to be physically distanced from the community, but the church still finds ways to bring together members. Every Sunday at 10:30 a.m., Sells leads a church service for around 100 regular church members who tune in on Facebook. He also connects members through Bible study sessions throughout the week. Still, he said he misses the opportunities to reach out in person.

“For the longest time, we enjoyed each others’ company, we liked to hang out together, we liked to do things together,” he said. “It has been a big change of mind, especially as a pastor. One of the things I’ve been accustomed to is shaking someone’s hand, giving a hug, going to someone’s house, visiting hospitals and nursing homes. As a pastor, there’s just certain things right now you can’t do.”

Social distancing forces people to look for individual outreach opportunities, Brown said. He explained small service activities — such as paying for the person ahead of him in line at the grocery store after their card is declined — are limited as more people are staying home. However, he said it’s still possible to serve the community while being apart; mowing the lawn, trimming trees and delivering groceries for others can include both social distancing and service.

“It takes one person at a time,” Brown said.