2126 The Food Pantry

Today I volunteered at the Food Pantry, and frankly, I'm bushed. Almost too tired to blog. Almost. Standing, walking, stocking, and helping clients for five hours on concrete floors is sort of tiring--I don't feel old until I have to do something physical I don't usually do.

I haven't quite figured out the schedule, but I think our church takes responsibility for one week, staffs with volunteers, and then others fill in as needed. For instance, I was working with a lovely Baptist lady who lives in the area and just walked in and asked if she could volunteer. It's extremely well run by a former business executive, and is set up differently than when I volunteered a few times in the late 80s. There are several types of food--government surplus, grocery store surplus and past due date items, items purchased by the pantry in quantity, and donated food from local churches.

Everything that comes in has to be sorted, stored and shelved, or put in the coolers to keep them fresh. Fresh items vary. Today, for instance, everyone got 10 lbs. of potatoes and 5 lbs. of apples and as much bread as they wanted. At one point, volunteers from various churches who had picked up surplus and day-old items at bakeries around town arrived in their vans, so we all went outside with palettes and grocery carts and unloaded the vans. Then everything was repacked in boxes so they could be stored, with things that wouldn't keep well--birthday cakes, pecan and fruit pies, tortes, etc. going immediately to the shelves. When we had a lull, we'd sort and fold sacks, or break down boxes, or restock shelves. Sixty nine families were served at this location today.