His Closet and Cupboard

Undergirded by prayer and humbly submitted to the Lord’s leading, His Closet and Cupboard — a ministry of Light & Life Community (Lakewood, CO) — is joyfully providing food, clothing and spiritual sustenance to the area’s needy.

“We started the ministry about two years ago as a way to assist people with food needs,” says overall coordinator Sarah Smith. As used clothing came in, it soon became apparent that the search for the right size and color kept people in the room longer than when they just came in for food. “We now had the opportunity to visit, and develop relationships,” she recalls.

Currently, some 4,000 pounds of food and more than 500 clothing items are given away monthly to more than 100 families.

The ministry has expanded into a 570-square-foot storage and distribution room with shelving, freezer and refrigerator space. Racks on wheels with shelves underneath (created and built by a church member) facilitate the display of clothing and shoes. (Volunteers, under the direction of clothing coordinator Karla Bennetts, spend at least 10-15 hours a week sorting, selecting and repairing the very best of the donations.)

A prayer team, headed by Don Burkhart, intercedes for the ministry regularly and arrives en masse on distribution day to pray with those who arrive with deeper needs than just the physical. Recently, a young pregnant woman who’d already given up a baby for adoption came for food and clothing and was prayed with. She realized that she needed God, made a profession of faith, kept the baby after he was born, and is working toward a healed relationship with the child’s father.

According to Smith, His Closet and Cupboard is simply that: His. For God alone has formed, shaped and reshaped it. One of Smith’s favorite things: “looking back and seeing the Lord’s hand in all of it.”