VIDALIA, La. – For the poorest of Concordia Parish’s poor, it just might be the Christmas gift they’ve been wishing for. Feed the Children brought the boxes full of bean, rice, canned goods and other staples to the Bethel Church near Vidalia in mid-November. Since then, the church has distributed 150 boxes.

The giveaway has been announced in newspapers, on cable television and on the radio, and other area ministers have picked up boxes to distribute to needy people they know. Still, the church has about 200 boxes left.

The free boxes are being given away after church services, which are held at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Sundays and 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, said the Rev. Troy Thomas, pastor of Bethel Church.

&uot;We’ve been supporting Feed the Children for quite a while, and when we heard about them giving away food, we wanted to be a part of it,&uot;&160;Thomas said.

This is not the first time Feed the Children has visited Concordia Parish. The ministry brought seven trucks of food to the area in 1997.

And after three years spent keeping track of the area’s still dismal economic statistics – including double-digit jobless rates – Feed the Children officials decided the need was still great enough for them to visit the area again.

So Feed the Children returned to Ferriday in late August of this year and gave away about 1,400 food boxes.

If the nonprofit gets its way, it will return twice a year from now on, Don Richardson, a Feed the Children vice president, said earlier this year.

And as Thomas pointed out, there is always a need.

&uot;We still have some hungry people right in this area, people the government may be overlooking,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;Sometimes people do not have enough food stamps to last them the whole month. There’s definitely a need.&uot;