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As customers entered Lowes Foods on Saturday, the Mission Possible Kids of West Market Street United Methodist Church handed them a note explaining that they had kidnapped their pastor.

The Rev. Dave Melton, who was sitting there wrapped in a rope, even produced a straight-faced “Help!”

The ransom: 300 cans of food.

“Twenty minutes in, we had 23 cans. I just thought, 'Oh my word, I’m going to miss services tomorrow, and this was part of the plan,’ ” Melton joked.

Every week, members of the group perform some kind of mission work. This week, the beneficiary would be Greensboro Urban Ministry and its Leadership Greensboro Seniors fall grocery store food drive.

The nonprofit has been hard pressed to keep food on its shelves for the hungry and is depending on more of these efforts to meet its increasing needs, especially during the fall food drive, which typically boosts the emergency food pantry.

The “kidnapping” is also the sort of creative approach that Mike Aiken is starting to see increase.

“People realize that our neighbors are suffering during this economic crisis and hurricane, and they’re wanting to dig in and do something,” said Aiken, executive director of Urban Ministry.

Among other recent efforts: The young people of Mount Hope United Church of Christ in Whitsett recently held a rock-a-thon bake sale, and local BB&T employees purchased food last weekend, which they planned to hand out Tuesday and today at Urban Ministry.

In all, about 61,000 pounds of food were collected during projects associated with this past weekend’s food drive, including donations collected by West Market Street young people. It takes an average of 50 pounds of food to feed a family of four for a week.

By the hour’s — and antics’ — end for Melton on Saturday, the tally for cans collected was at 364.

“We all played it to the hilt and just had fun,” Melton said.

“After it was over and they untied me, we sat down together and had a prayer, remembering what a wonderful event it was and our commitment as a congregation to serve the poor.”

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com