La Vista Church opens Hygiene Pantry in White Rock, expands pantries

La Vista Church of the Nazarene installed a new, larger Little Free Pantry and repurposed its original Little Free Pantry into a dedicated Hygiene Pantry at 15 Grand Canyon Drive in White Rock, Pastor James Byerly said. The two pantry installations sit near the church mailbox at the corner of N.M. 4 and Grand Canyon and are intended to expand local access to food and personal-care essentials.

The church has maintained a Little Free Pantry in White Rock for several years and watched usage grow, Pastor Byerly said. The original box began as a missions project planned by Missions President Becky Garrett during spring parent-teacher conferences, when Vacation Bible School children painted and decorated the pantry, brought donations to stock it, and then mounted and ceremonially dedicated it after a VBS “take over” Sunday.

“As the need had grown, we have upgraded to a larger pantry,” Pastor Byerly wrote, describing the decision to add a larger unit to increase capacity for basic food distribution. With the new larger pantry in place, the church repurposed the old pantry into a Hygiene Pantry “with the purpose of providing a place for hygiene products (including basic necessities such as menstrual products, diapers, toiletries, socks, etc.) to be readily available for those in need,” Pastor Byerly said.

Members of La Vista Church gathered for a commissioning of the Hygiene Pantry on Feb. 21, 2026, and courtesy photos from the church show the commissioning, the new food pantry, and the Hygiene Pantry at 15 Grand Canyon Drive. The photographic record also documents the original VBS build and the new Little Free Pantry “all stocked up,” reflecting both the volunteer labor and initial donations that launched the program.

La Vista Church offered a community invitation alongside the installations: “As always, please take what you need, and leave what you can.” The church also extended a prayerful welcome, saying, “We invite the community to take what is needed and leave what you are able. We pray that this new addition will be a blessing to our neighbors in the White Rock community.”

Both pantries remain at 15 Grand Canyon Drive, with the larger unit intended to handle growing food needs and the repurposed box focused on hygiene and basic necessities. The projects grew from Becky Garrett’s VBS missions planning and from several years of community use, and the church says the changes aim to keep essentials readily available for those in need in White Rock.