The Chapel Outreach Foundation provides relief on the south side of Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – There’s a beacon of faith, love and compassion on Tallahassee’s south side, lending a helping hand to anyone in need.

The Chapel Outreach Foundation is a labor of love created for the community by the members of Jacob Chapel Baptist Church.

The foundation provides critical services and addresses the needs of the most vulnerable. Keyerra Wright is a church member and hair stylist in Tallahassee. She is also a mother who lives in low-income housing.

“Don’t make anyone feel ashamed. There’s no shame in getting the help you need,” she said.

To people who live in the Bond, Frenchtown and Callen neighborhoods, Jacob Chapel Baptist Church is known as the little church with a big heart. Melinda Harris is the church’s outreach coordinator.

In 2024, the church started its non-profit organization, the Chapel Outreach Foundation, to continue its mission. Harris said the foundation focuses on helping low-income, poverty-stricken communities, children and the elderly.

“We have a clothes closet, a food pantry and a back-to-school initiative,” she said.

Each resource and initiative serves a critical and growing community need. Keyerra Wright said the foundation’s food pantry has been a big help when it comes to feeding her family.

“Because the price of food has gone up so much now, it’s getting to a point where we single moms have to budget for food stamps. So sometimes when we run out of them during the month, that’s where the food pantry comes in,” Wright said.

Foundation President Irish Porter said the resources the non-profit provides go a long way in keeping many in the community in shelters.

“A lot of people can’t afford to go to Goodwill or any thrift stores, so if you don’t have money, you can come here and dress up for free,” Porter said.

Harris said the organization now needs to expand as the need for help grows.

“In the south, people are hungry. You cannot understand the word of Jesus if your stomach is growling,” she said.

From seniors receiving two hot meals every Saturday, to the more than 300 book bags given to students at Pineview Elementary School and so many other essential resources, there is a small church with a big heart offering hope and healing to a whole community.

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