Spanish Fork • She began with a pack of Top Ramen noodles, three cans of food and a heap of prayers.

But now, Wendy Osborne, a former senior sales executive for a Provo telecommunications company, distributes more than two tons of food a month as part of a homegrown charity aimed at feeding the hungry.

It's a self-made ministry for Osborne, who traded her paid profession for humanitarian work last summer to provide food — along with clothes, toys and blankets — to families who otherwise would go without.

"This is God-driven," Osborne says, looking around at shelves stocked with baby food, canned green beans and Sunny Delight orange juice. "No joke. Everything here is by the grace of God."

Osborne considers her mission divine. Her charity, known as Tabitha's Way Thrift Store & Food Pantry, carries the name of the biblical do-gooder who inspired her.

The Spanish Fork mother of three found her calling last summer while reading about the death of a New Testament woman named Tabitha, who reportedly was full of "good works and almsdeeds." When the Apostle Peter was summoned to rise her from the dead, he found mourning widows wearing "coats and garments" that Tabitha had made for them.

Osborne couldn't get that passage out of her mind.

"This was a woman who emulated what Christ wants us to do," says Osborne, who attends the Christian Life Church in Payson, "which is to love each other."

A month later, Osborne quit her sales job at Veracity Communications and began building her own nonprofit. It was a path, she says, paved with miracles.

There was the Miracle of the Stuffed Shelves: One day after stocking her meager collection of Top Ramen noodles and canned food, Diamond Fork Junior High offered 1,000 cans to the cause. Several days later, Brockbank Elementary added two tons of food.

And there was the Miracle of the Missing Money: Two months after opening her thrift store, Osborne came up $200 short of making her lease payment. Financially, she and her husband couldn't afford it. Then came a call from a stranger, saying she had heard of the charity and wanted to donate. Her offer: $200.

Although Tabitha's Way remains a modest operation near Spanish Fork's main drag with a handful of clothing racks, a small children's room and a pantry no larger than the food storage rooms found in some homes, it bustles with business. In Osborne's first 25 days after opening, she served more than 1,100 people.

But she brings in so little money that Osborne doesn't even keep a cash register on the desk. She asks people to pay $1 for clothes if they can afford it — the most she has made in a day is $112 — which usually brings in enough money to pay the bills.

For the most part, she relies on volunteers. And donations. And prayers.

"I wanted to help," says Vickie Beary, a Spanish Fork teacher, as she pulls donations from a bag. "You just feel like there is a need. It is hard for one person to do it alone."

That need appears in the nearby children's room, where Clyde Ray Frazier Jr. sorts toys in hopes of repaying Osborne for the two bags of groceries and change of clothes she had given him. He couldn't pay for the items himself.

Two years ago, Frazier lost his job as a roofer. Now, he's homeless, living off about $40 a month. Without money to give, he offered to tidy up toys in a room that had been tousled by tiny hands.

"It helps me," Frazier says. "It is doing something good."

Osborne's eyes grow wet as she watches him. Week after week, she has seen people just like him who want to give something.

"They feel so broken and helpless and worthless," Osborne says. "But that's just not true. We love them, and God loves them."

Although Tabitha's Way helps the homeless, it also serves a large number of seniors and low-income families with donations from schools (think Diamond Fork and Brockbank), churches (denominations ranging from Jehovah's Witnesses to Catholic) and businesses (the do-gooders are as diverse as Spanish Fork's WiggyWash and Triple T Heating & Cooling).

Loretta Carter, a Nephi mother of two, steps through the door of Osborne's charity for the first time. Carter, who recently lost her job as a housekeeper, is looking for a church skirt for her teenage daughter. She finds one.

"Everyone needs a place like this," she says, "especially in this economy."

Osborne knows firsthand what it feels like to fall on hard times. She is in them now. Her husband, who has worked in the financial sector for 12 years, recently lost his job and is looking for work.

But Osborne isn't discouraged.

"That just shows that none of us are immune in this economy," she says. "But that's OK. God will provide."

In her eyes, just as he always has.

jstettler@sltrib.com Twitter: Stettler_Trib —

The story of Tabitha

These biblical verses inspired Wendy Osborne to start her own thrift shop and food pantry in Spanish Fork. She considers Tabitha an exemplar when it comes to showing Christ-like love.

"Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.

"And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.

"And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.

"Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.

"But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up."

Source: Acts 9:36-40 —

Want to donate?

Tabitha's Way Thrift Store & Food Pantry accepts donations online at http://www.tabithasway.org