Goslin Care Ministry Feeds Souls in South Dallas Community
By Elizabeth Staples
Buckner News Service 

Volunteers give hope to clients who need much more than physical help, said Marsha Mills, director of Goslin Care Ministry, a ministry of Buckner Children and Family Services located at Cliff Temple Baptist Church. 

“They come in with nothing and leave with a smile on their face and food in their hand,” she said. “Everyone that walks into this place is treated with dignity, like brothers and sisters. I make sure that everyone who comes in here hears their name at least once. They’re people, not numbers.” 

The food pantry at the Goslin Care Ministry has been serving the Oak Cliff community since 1948 when Virginia Goslin began giving food to the needy out of the church basement. 

“From the very beginning, Virginia’s goal was to take care of people in the community by always being there to help in any way she could,” said Ann Tabony, long-time volunteer who served alongside her friend, Virginia Goslin, since the ministry’s inception. 


In the 1970s, when the courts ordered school desegregation, the community surrounding the church began a rapid transformation, one that required increasing needs for social services, said pastor Glenn Schmucker. The church responded “creatively and courageously to the demands of its declining resources” and spun off Mission: Oak Cliff, an arm to provide food and clothing to the community’s most needy. 

In spring 2005, after almost sixty years of serving the community through food, Cliff Temple partnered with Buckner Children and Family Services to continue the social services program. Shortly thereafter, Cliff Temple member Jeannette Sadler donated $1 million toward the construction of the Cletys and Jeannette Sadler Community Center, fulfilling her “life-long dream” to help those who are less fortunate, said Schmucker. 

“As a result of the Buckner partnership and the Sadler gift, Cliff Temple has experienced a rejuvenation of spirit,” Schmucker said. “We anticipate many more years of fruitful ministry to the Oak Cliff community.” 

Serving an estimated 40-50 people each day – 1,500 a month – from 5 zip codes, the Goslin food pantry serves any client in need up to six times per year. Volunteers interview clients upon arrival to determine their needs, and then pack bags of food for the number of people in each family, Mills said. 

Upon the new construction the 6,000-square-foot Sadler Community Center, expected to begin in Fall 2006, services will expand to include parenting and computer classes, English-as-a-Second-Language classes, technology skills and job readiness training, crisis counseling, transportation and senior services and nutritional cooking classes. 

“The Goslin Ministry will take up one-third of that building,” said Sandra Martinez, Buckner director of community ministries at Cliff Temple. “There will be waiting room, private interview rooms and much larger food pantry. Hopefully, it will eventually become a client choice pantry. That’s the goal.” 

The Goslin Care Ministry is run by volunteers, made up of church members and neighbors, and even some of the community’s homeless, according to Mills. 

“The volunteers make all the difference,” Martinez said. “We have people from all walks of life working together.” 

Nearly every day the faces of John Welch and his wife Joanna Hinkle Welch can be seen volunteering in the food pantry. John, having grown up in the Oak Cliff area, has experienced the community’s transformation through the years and sees his service as a “way to try and help out the younger people.” 

“We try to do our work [for our landscaping business] on the weekends so we can come and volunteer here every day,” Joanna said. “I never really thought I would be doing this with my life when I was younger, but it makes you feel good and I’m glad we can help others.” 

Martinez anticipates that the Sadler Community Center will provide the Oak Cliff community with new opportunities and become the primary place to fill the needs of the area. “Many of the people who come here just need someone to listen to them,” she said. “Not only do they need help physically, but spiritually as well. And we can give that to them” 

Lawaenena Brown knows how that feels. A regular visitor the Goslin Care Ministry, when Brown enters the room with loud chatter and hugs all around, her presence is known. But it’s more than the food, she said, but the hope that keeps her going. 

“This place is a blessing. Today I had nothing on my shelf to eat and now look,” she laughed as she held out two bags of food. “Places like this keep your mind together. It lets you know God is still looking down on you.” 

For more information about the Goslin Care Ministry or Buckner Children and Family Services at Cliff Temple Baptist Church, please contact Sandra Martinez at smartinez@buckner.org or call (214) 942-8601.