If someone needed help, Dick Stafford was there.
The Greenwood resident organized toy drives for inmates’ children. He bought hotel rooms for the homeless. He sent disaster relief supplies across the globe and gave bags of food to the needy in Leflore County. The former agricultural salesman taught farming techniques in hunger-stricken nations such as North Korea and Mexico.
It was all motivated by his faith.
“The Bible says we’re supposed to feed those that are hungry. Regardless of politics, you have to be engaged with people,” Mr. Stafford said in a 2003 interview while conducting a food drive for Iraqi families.
In 2011, Mr. Stafford received a Pioneer Award for his philanthropic efforts from the Ag Development Foundation, a Baptist hunger relief organization.
Mr. Stafford, 79, died today at his home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by Wilson & Knight Funeral Home.
“Dick always had a great passion for meeting human need,” said Dr. Jim Phillips, pastor of Stafford’s church, North Greenwood Baptist.
That began after Mr. Stafford graduated in 1956 from Texas A&M University with a degree in agriculture economics. He planned to go into full-time agricultural mission work overseas, but that never panned out.
Instead, he worked for many years as a salesman for Delta Purchasing Federation of Greenwood.
But Mr. Stafford continued to work as part of a Christian anti-hunger missions for more than 40 years. He traveled to multiple countries, including Belize, Mexico, Romania, Hungary, Kazakhstan, China and North Korea.
He also almost single-handedly ran the Leflore County Baptist Association’s Food Pantry in downtown Greenwood for five years. Phillips said Mr. Stafford would take his Suburban and a flat-bed trailer and pick up loads of food from a food network in Jackson. Regardless of whether any volunteers showed up to help or not, Mr. Stafford kept serving, Phillips said.
He was also active in prison ministry and coordinated the Prison Angel Tree program in Leflore County for several years. It provided Christmas presents to children of prisoners.
And he advocated for a homeless shelter in Greenwood. In lieu of its presence, Mr. Stafford often bought rooms at motels for people passing through town.
“Everywhere he went and everywhere he served the Lord in his lifetime, he looked for some ministry where the Lord could use him,” Phillips said.
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
