For 30 years, the local nonprofit God’s Outreach has regularly distributed food, clothing, and other basic necessities to those in need. While most of the items go to those living in the local area, the nonprofit also aids with disaster relief across the country. On Tuesday, they loaded a semi-truck with 24 pallets of various items to send to Tifton, Georgia — a city ravaged by flooding and high winds from Hurricane Helene.
God’s Outreach was started in 1994 by the late David Gerard Mudd, who died in January 2024. His son David Lawrence Mudd now serves as the president of the nonprofit.
“Dad started it in ’94 and he just knew he wanted to help people,” David Lawrence Mudd said. “It kind of changed over the years. Initially, he would allow people to come in with vouchers and get food bags and more. Eventually, we got to where we didn’t deal directly with the public as much. We started dealing with the food banks, and they’ll distribute it out to the people or food kitchens or wherever it needs to go. We do the same thing with clothing.”
God’s Outreach has helped with numerous disaster relief efforts over the years, building connections with people across the country.
Following Hurricane Helene, one of those connections led Mudd to the leadership at South Georgia Church of God in Tifton.
Tifton — which has about 17,000 residents and is located on I-75 in southern Georgia — experienced flooding, significant damage due to high winds and fallen trees, and power outages.
“People can’t really get around,” Mudd said. “Some can’t even get out of their driveways. I think the nearest place to them is 2 hours away to go and get supplies.”
That’s where God’s Outreach is trying to help. Items being sent down include diapers and baby formula; soap and hygiene products; spaghetti noodles and sauce; water; paper towels and cleaning supplies; clothing; face masks; sealable bags and food storage containers; and more.
“The church there is going to distribute this where it needs to go in all the different counties around that need it,” Mudd said. “… This is a lot of donations from different churches around our area. With every donation, we’re able to go to Sam’s or other stores and buy pallets of items people need. Ragu donated pallets of sauce. Other things we have are things we had to buy, but we got them in pallet loads. That way everything’s nice and neat, not just donations that were loosely stacked.”
Mudd suggested that anyone looking to help God’s Outreach with donation efforts should make a monetary donation rather than bringing in items.
“That way we’re able to use the monetary donations to go buy entire pallets of goods. If we get a bunch of donations of items, it will all be loosely packed and harder to deal with,” he said. “With pallets, when it comes off the truck, they know where to put it. They don’t have to go through and try to find what they need.”
Mudd said he’s grateful for all the support the nonprofit has received over the years.
“I appreciate the community for everything they’ve done,” he said. “It helps us do what we do and help a lot of people. God bless and thank you.”
Donations can be mailed to 1209 Moseley Street or put in the drop box by the front door there or at Mudd’s Furniture.
