DECATUR - New Salem Baptist Church is on the angel bandwagon.

For the past year, the church has worked with Angel Food Ministries to help families stretch their food budget.

Angel Food Ministries is a nonprofit and nondenominational organization begun in Georgia in 1994 to help rural neighbors who didn't have enough food.

The organization has spread to 35 states, helping feed more than 500,000 families every month.

The minimum cost is $30 for a box of top-quality fresh and frozen food items, acquired from producers and vendors. Extra meat specials cost extra.

Last month, Darla Sheren went to New Salem to place her order for a box of food.

"It really helps," she said after hearing about the program from a friend.

"You can't get this much food for $30 at the grocery store, and it's just me and my husband, where we even have food to take on our camping trips," she said.

Phyliss Slaughter and several church members sit in an office to take orders from people who come to New Salem. Church member Gayle Brummel usually sets up a table at the Illinois Department of Social Services to process orders from individuals with LINK cards. Some church members even get orders at some of the high-rise apartments for senior citizens who can't make it to New Salem.

"A lot of the civic clubs order food and put together food baskets to give to the needy," Slaughter said

The orders then are called in to the Angel Food's office in Good Hope, Ga.

Two weeks after the orders are made, Milton Joyner, Roland Mabry, Joe Rawls, James Reed and Edna Taylor pile into the church van about 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday and head to Abundant Life Christian Center in Springfield, Angel Food's distribution site.

Individuals from churches all over Central Illinois also arrive at Abundant Life to help unload the food from the semitruck.

Before beginning, everyone gathers for a prayer.

Soon, things are shifting into high gear like a factory assembly line as food is loaded onto a conveyer belt coming off the semitruck. Several men remove the boxes and place them onto dollies that are rolled to the center of the gymnasium, then stacked in rows on the floor.

Representatives from the churches then are called to go down the row to pick out the food items ordered in their communities.

Individuals from Heritage Behavioral Health Center and Niantic also were in line to get boxes of food for clients.

"We were the only two organizations - Heritage and New Salem - to do this in a 40-mile radius for almost six months before Niantic started," said Kate Sargent with Heritage.

"I have been told by people that this is the only time that they get meat and can't afford it at the grocery stores," she added.

Sargent said the agency also receives $1 per order from Angel Food that is donated to help support Oasis Day Center.

Edna Taylor with New Salem noticed that they had fewer orders for March. "People are making the decision to buy food or pay their electric bills, and sometimes it comes down to that choice," she said.

About 13 percent of household spending is on food, compared to 4 percent spent for gasoline, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The cost of eggs, pasta, milk, fruits and vegetables has surged by 20 percent to 40 percent from last year.

A gallon of whole milk that cost $3.07 in 2007 now is $3.87, a 26 percent increase. Ground beef was $2.19 per pound in 2007 and has reached $2.33 in the past few months, a 6 percent increase. A whole chicken was $1.06 per pound in 2007 and is now $1.16, a 9 percent increase.

With accelerating food prices, Slaughter said, "(Angel Food) not only helps people stretch their food budget, it's our way of helping and giving back to the community. The feedback we get from people is how they appreciate paying $30 for a quantity of food that would cost more than $60 at the grocery store."

She said members volunteer many hours to make the food ministry an important service to the community.

"It's more than food distribution; it's a ministry for the community through the church and through God," Slaughter said.

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@herald-review.com or 421-7963.