In 2004, Jural Toby, guided by her faith and the teachings of Jesus and a message from God, began feeding the hungry in York.
Assisted by her children, Toby, who grew up on welfare in the Codorus projects southwest of downtown and had been working as a school bus driver, began her ministry out of the back of her car.
In a short time, her work expanded, the need, she said, was so great.
Since then, her ministry, called Harvest of Blessing, has grown to serve 9,000 families a month, and for just over the past two years, she has operated the pantry out of the York County Food Bank’s building on West Princess Street, renting space in the building for $400 a month. The food bank let her set up the space how she wanted it, and she created a space that’s like a grocery store, with shopping carts and everything, she said.
She said it was intentional, to make people feel comfortable asking for help. She said she knows how hard it is for people to ask for a hand.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” Toby said. “God gave this to me in a dream. All that I do is to help people. I know what it’s like.”