Fire damages Seminole County church pantry

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – A Seminole County church said its award-winning food pantry may have to shut down after a fire Monday night.

Seminole County fire crews said a window air conditioning unit caught fire at the Apostolic Church of Jesus, Fellowship Ministries on Ford Drive in Altamonte Springs.

While the fire department said the fire didn’t extend beyond the AC unit, the church said the pantry may be a total loss. The pantry has been in operation for over 30 years, and the church said last year it provided more than 1.5 million meals.

The church said it is going forward with a food distribution event Tuesday morning because it is getting a semi-truck of food.

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The pantry in Seminole County has been in operation for more than 30 years.

“One of the community members ran inside my dad’s house (saying), “The church is on fire,” Deacon James Rolle told News 6.

Rolle said he’s so thankful things were not worse. The fire wasn’t at their main sanctuary building, but rather at the food pantry operations center.

“When I got to the front, I saw the flames coming from the air conditioning unit,” Rolle said.

Inside their food pantry, they lost many of the canned goods and fresh food they hand out every day to residents.

The church fed more than 1 million Seminole County families in 2022. Deacon Rolle said giving back is something his family has been doing for 40 years.

“We can’t pay everybody’s light bill, but we can sure feed you,” he said.

Rolle said there was food in the freezers that they were going to give out during their daily food giveaway. He said he’s not letting this stop him from serving his purpose.

“This (is) just a small hurdle. We still doing what we do. We’re still handing out food,” Rolle said.

The giveaways are all thanks to community partners like the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, which will help the church to continue giving out food despite the fire.

“Every week, we are putting food out in the community through this church,” Erika Spence, communications manager with Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, said. “To hear that bad things happen to good people, it’s devastating.”

So many families said they’re forever grateful for the nutritious meals despite the church fighting its own fires right now.

“Food is super expensive right now. That’s why it’s really good for the community,” resident Luis Cardanas said.

“That is the most gracious and compassionate thing for the church to do to give back to the community, even though it’s in a terrible state like this,” resident Kathy Clamons said.

No one was hurt.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A GoFundMe was soon established to help restore what was lost. Access it by clicking here.

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