Baked, fried or boiled.

That's how people described the blessing that pulled into the parking lot of Northwest Decatur's Carrie Matthews Recreation Center about 2 p.m. Friday.

French fried, twice-baked or mashed.

People lining the parking lot, brown paper sacks in hand, thanked their neighbors for telling them the news. Some stared in awe at the tractor trailer truck full of Idaho spuds and thanked God.

"All those potatoes., ain't that a blessing?." Angela Acklin said, standing next to her sister who had brought her to the center. "It means a blessing from the Lord for me,: she continued. "I have a family of five. With the kids being out of school, you have to spend more money on groceries. They can french fry all they want to."

The Neighborhood Christian Center of Memphis sent the truck bearing 45,000 pounds of potatoes to Decatur as a sign - a symbol of what their ministry can do for people here.

The center has sent July 13 as a target due to open a branch of its ministry somewhere in Northwest Decatur. The center has branches across the Southeast.

"Feeding folks. That's part of what their ministry is," said Murphy Brown, president of the Decatur Minority Development Association. Brown said the Neighborhood Christian Center wanted to show people what tho expect when their center opens in Decatur. He met with the founders, Johann and Monroe Ballad, on Thursday night at a meeting between his group and theirs and area ministries and businessmen.

He said Mrs. Ballad was asked questions by local ministries about what her center could do for people here. "This is an example of how her ministry works," Brown said, sweeping a hand toward the potato-laden truck. According to Brown, she received a call Friday that a truck in Huntsville had the potatoes but no where to take them. "She told them to drop the potatoes off here," he said.

Neighborhood residents from Memorial Drive Northwest and all over were notified by their local churches and friends. Some walked over. Some drove. They all brought bags. Brown said the people were all to take between 10 and 15 pounds of potatoes each. He said once the crowd ceased at Carrie Matthews, the truck was going to stop by either of the housing projects in town from Stonegate Apartments to Acres to Cashin Homes. Workers used shovels to fill the empty bags placed inside the truck. Some potatoes rolled out of the dark cavern onto the cement.

Mamie Jackson was just walking down the street when a woman passed by and told her there were free potatoes being given away. "It's good somebody can do something like this," she said, waiting in line. "God's got good people somewhere in this world."

Berta Reynolds said her minister from Westside Baptist Church stopped by her home and told her to go the Carrie Matthews Center. "It's great for the people who don't have much to eat," she said. "Bake them, boil them, anyway they can cook them, it's a meal."

"Copyright, (1994),  The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN 38103.  Used with permission.  Notice: This article may not be copied, downloaded, or reproduced in any form or medium without express, written permission from The Commercial Appeal."

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