The Grace House in Fort Valley asking for help after recent break-ins

To help out the Grace House, The Warner Robins Jeep Club is holding a fundraiser Saturday morning at 10 o'clock.  It will be held at Lane Southern Orchards.

FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Grace House Community Food Bank’ serves people in Fort Valley, and is important for those in need in the community.

For nearly 20 years, Craig McKinney was the director of the food bank, but he passed away in December of 2023.

His niece, Shauna Groves then moved from out of state to run the bank, Groves described her uncle as force in the community.

“We lost our director, he was a huge, huge part of the community here and he was amazing for The Grace House, everybody always said, that he made Jesus famous and serving was very close to his heart,” said Shauna Groves, Director of The Grace House.

Because of that reputation, Groves says she couldn’t understand, why someone would want to break-into the food bank, and steal from them.

According to Groves, the first break-in happened just two weeks after McKinney’s death, then a second one a few weeks later.

“It was pretty devastating after the loss of Craig because he was a big man with a big heart and a big presence and we didn’t have anything like that happen while he was here. So, it was another gut punch after losing him,” said Groves.

She says, the break-ins left them feeling compromised and vulnerable. But then, someone donated a surveillance system in hopes it wouldn’t happen again.

“We’re not so worried about the break-in anymore, we do have a security system that was donated to us which was amazing so we had people step up there. We have police presence in the area, if needed, there right across the street but the funds are low.”

As far as donations, Groves says the food bank needs about $3,000 a-month to meet its overhead, and of course; they’ll take as much help as possible from anyone willing to give food or clothing items to those in need throughout the community.