Photo by Jim Epperson The Mission House is a community-wide effort to help those in need. Matthew 25: 35-36

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

In the five years since its inception, the Mission House went from helping only a handful of families to about 125 families every month.

The House has a clinic spearheaded by Bullard's beloved Marjorie Roper. It also has a large food pantry and a room full of clothes.

Families come all the way from Rusk to receive a rationing of food and a free medical checkup for their children. And everything, from the large donated wardrobe of donated clothes from area churches to the freezer full of food will be gone in one day.

But the assistance found in Bullard for area-wide, lowincome families is a lot more than mere service. It's a passion felt by the Mission House director Hazel Mason and the House's volunteers.

"If you give them food, clothes and a clinic and you have not touched their soul, what have you done?" Mason asked.

Mason said that sometimes people criticize the Mission House for helping poor people. The criticism echoes an ideology that helping poor people only enables them not to help themselves.

"Jesus never asked questions when he helped someone," Mason said. "So we don't look past the person. They need help and we help them."

Mason said that some families do not have beds for their children, and other families with children have not had a roof over their heads at one time or another. To judge any of these families goes against the very teaching of Jesus. "God wants me to help," Mason said. "What they do with this help is up to God."

The Mission House, which receives donations from every Christian denomination around the area, seeks to touch people's lives in need. The volunteers also hope to show its patrons the love of Jesus Christ.

Sharon Starwalt, a Mission House board member and volunteer, said not only does she get to witness and pray to people who use the Mission House services, but she also is humbled.

"It's not a division, we don't have all on our side," Starwalt said. "This gives us an opportunity to see the Lord."

Bill Cox, who volunteers in the food pantry, said putting hours in at the Mission House has let him see that there is a need for the services.

"With unemployment and the current economy, we are continuing to see folks not able to make it through on their local income," Cox said. From the lack of insurance or funds, they can't make it from one month to the next."

Betty Caldwell, a senior citizen who goes to the Mission House for groceries said the volunteers go out of their way to help.

"I've never been in a place where there is so much love," Caldwell said. "I think God for them, they treat people with so much love."