In 1955, the Englewood United Methodist Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was just two months old and in desperate need of funds. Bake sales, fish fries, and pancake breakfasts were failing to bring in enough money to cover planned construction costs. But one member of the congregation, Dr. H. Boone Grant, had a capital idea to raise cash.
Grant purchased shelled peanuts in bulk, and along with his wife, Elizabeth, and their five children, fried and packaged them for sale at 50 cents a jar. Fast-forward to today, and the Englewood Methodist Men’s Club peanuts—always water-blanched before getting fried and salted—gross six figures annually for the church, at $3 a jar.
