Just before 6 p.m. on March 21, the line in front of the Pell City Recreation Hall on 19th Street was 150 people deep or more. The smell of pasta drifted through the building’s open windows, and just outside a group of volunteers lined brown bags filled with meat and canned goods into dozens of rows.

“This is the trench – this is where the rubber meets the road,” organizer Carrie Turner Leland said. “We like to say our job is not to qualify the need, but to meet it.”

This week, in a matter of less than two hours, the The GoodWorks Charitable Foundation gave away free groceries to 587 people and served a spaghetti supper to hundreds more during an event organizers call Community Table. It’s been held every third Monday of the month, and since its launch in the fall of last year it’s provided needed food and clothing to thousands.

The event itself is the beginning of its own story, though, and it really marks the end to another chapter in the lives of its organizers. The mission to help people in poverty in St. Clair County started in 2011 when Leland and Jean Speer Davis, her childhood friend and fellow Pell City native, packed up and headed into areas devastated by the April 2011 tornadoes.

What they found when they arrived devastated them.

They realized that groups of people in local communities didn’t have access to basic services. Some areas had running water in one of five homes. Some children only ate when they were at school.

“We realized this not a tornado situation,” Davis said. “This is an everyday poverty situation. It broke our hearts.”

What they did in response they both referred to as “Two Girls in a Truck.” Leland and Davis started collecting coats from friends and buying pallets of canned goods. They packed them into Davis’ garage, and once a month or so they’d fill the bed of Leland’s truck and drive back out to areas of need. And they did it for years.

From 2011 to 2015, Leland and Davis made these trips. But on what turned out to be their final delivery in 2015, they realized they were at a pivotal moment.

“We can either just do this or we can take it to the next level,” Leland said. “We had figured out how to do this and were successful at it, but we knew we couldn’t be everywhere. If we could be in one place and let people come to us, we could serve more.”

The pair filed for nonprofit status, and the Foundation held its first soup kitchen and food giveaway in October 2015. They called it Community Table, because it was a place where neighbors sat next to neighbors and enjoyed a hot meal.

Leland said each event requires about 15 volunteers and about $1,000. GoodWorks is looking for more corporate sponsors, like MetroBank, which raised money through internal donations to support the March event.

“We encourage businesses who want to make a difference to join with us,” Leland said.

Local residents who would like to know more are encouraged to Like and follow the Foundation’s Facebook Page at facebook.com/goodworks.charitablefoundation. Those who wish to volunteer or learn more can contact Leland at a(205) 405-0011 or Davis at (205) 369-8516.