Carlton Bell has more mouths to feed this Easter.

“I just got custody of my two grandkids now, and they eat like horses.”

As Bell spoke Saturday, members of Liberty Baptist Church loaded boxes of food into the back of his car.

At the church’s Harbour View campus, the granddad was one of hundreds of people blessed with items to stock the pantry.

The operation in the Bridgeway Technology Center parking lot was run with precision.

Twelve pallets stacked with boxes stood about 60 feet apart. Vehicles were directed where to go, trunks were popped and volunteers had the food loaded in no time.

Things were done a little differently this year, noted Jennifer Ward, Liberty’s executive assistant.

Last year, former NFL player Keith Davis delivered the service. This time, Senior Pastor Grant Ethridge, preaching at the Hampton campus, was broadcast live into the North Suffolk sanctuary.

Recipients collected their food boxes after sitting in on one of two praise services, 10:30 a.m. or 2 p.m.

“We had about 2,800 register (for the giveaway) between the two campuses,” Ward said. “We’ll know by the end of today how many people receive food boxes.”

Also different than last year, boxes were to be given away Sunday as well, Ward said, adding, “When people called to register, they had more options when they could come.”

Valued at $25 each, the boxes contained mostly non-perishable items, she said. The student ministry packed them during their Disciple Now weekend in March.

“It was their service project for the weekend,” Ward explained, adding more than 200 students were involved in the operation, with both campuses coming together at the Hampton location.

“All of the food boxes were paid for by our members,” Ward said. “Pastor Grant said, ‘We’d love for you to be part of this and be generous this Easter.’ It just came from members who said, ‘Yes, I want to step up and help pay for a box, or three boxes.’”

The mission ministry purchased the food, she said, adding, “They did a great job buying local and keeping the money in the local economy.”

Folks registered for the giveaway between March 9 and 20, Ward said, with volunteers manning the phones to take their calls. “We had a commercial running and put out fliers,” she said.

“A lot of folks came in the past, and it was such a blessed weekend for them that they wanted to come back,” according to Ward.

“We are a multicultural, multigenerational, multi-site church,” Ward said. “We just want to love on Hampton Roads with the love that Christ showed us by dying on the cross for our sins.

“Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not go hungry,’ and we want to model the words of Christ.”

The church has a desire to “change lives, communities and the world,” she said.

Before driving off to feed his grandkids, Bell said the church was doing a great thing. “Not too many churches are doing this,” he said.