BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) -- It may not look like the fanciest building in the world.
In fact, before Pastor Micheal Watson started renting it, the structure on North Second Street in Booneville was a windshield repair shop.
Looks can be deceiving, though, even if it does appear to be a run-of-the-mill thrift store.
"Oh, we got a little bit of everything. We've got canister sets, we've got all kinds of clothes," store manager Zadie Watson said. "Just about anything you want, we've got it."
However, it's where the profits go that makes this place unique.
"It all goes back in to buy food for the food pantry," Zadie Watson said.
That food pantry -- modest in size -- helped feed 110 needy families just for the month of August alone.
"I never thought I'd ever have a food pantry, but about four years ago the Lord told us to start feeding the needy, so we did and we've been going ever since," Pastor Micheal Watson said. "Of course, like I said, it's not anything that we've done; it's what the Lord's done for us."
He and members of his family started the ministry in 2008, feeding anybody who could provide proof of their financial situation.
"We just want people to know that this is really going on in Mississippi. We've got elderly having to make decisions between medication or food," Micheal Watson said.
Kristanna Andras is one of those residents helped by the effort, but she understands why some don't seek out the assistance.
"A lot of people are embarassed by it and they don't want to ask for help, but everybody needs help sometimes," Andras said. "They're not gonna judge you or look down on you. Everyone in here has been in a situation where they've needed help, and it's just a blessing that they can come in and help people themselves now."
Micheal Watson said he understands what it's like to be without. He works as a truck driver full-time. In fact, most of those who volunteer at the thrift store or food pantry are strapped for cash. And even though it seems like the store doesn't always bring in enough money for them to do a lot, he says they manage to exceed their own expectations.
"There's times I can go down into the pantry, and we don't have really enough food there to give somebody, to even make a box," Micheal Watson said. "And somebody will come in for an emergency box, and I tell them, 'We'll give them what we've got.' When I get done, the box is overflowing."
That good deed, Andras said, doesn't end when someone gets food. The action instills a desire to want to give back in her life as well.
"I hope all of my children grow up and can help someone at some point," Andras said. "They'll grow up knowing, 'Hey, we need to help. There was someone there to help us, and we got to help do this. This is what's right. This is what we should do.'"
Zadie, Micheal's mother, agrees with the sentiment, because she says it keeps her going.
"It has helped me, and I know it's helped a lot of others. We just love doing it," she said.
