Rich in Volunteers--Short on Food

By Douglas Graves © 2008

The shelves are almost empty. The food in stock will sustain health but choices are very limited. The store is so small that only one family at a time can go in. Moveable food shelves compete with three, wheeled racks over-crammed with clothes. Twenty dollars is considered a substantial donation—no big corporate sponsors or government grants here. Still, the St. Stephen’s Food Pantry in Whitehall is doing good business.
Food Bank Director Karen Schell is also the Regional Sales Manager of the Equine Division for Straight Arrow Products. She is the kind of person who only sees the bright side of the situation—just as she sees only the gentler angels of human nature.
“St. Stephen’s [Episcopal Church] is kind enough to provide space, electricity and shelves,” she said. “The church members also provide volunteers, food and money to us.” The Food Pantry is in one of the rooms that the large church at 3900 Mechanicsville Road. “It’s a community effort. Next year we hope to get other churches to participate more.”
The numbers aren’t yet in for 2008, but the number of households served jumped from 525 in 2006 to 590 in 2007. Job loss, economic downturn, foreclosures and evictions are likely run that number up for 2008.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church’s Annual Report sums it up: “We serve Whitehall residents of all ages, races, and creeds. We are the only food pantry serving the area.”
Schell’s hope for more church involvement came to pass in a way for which she is grateful. “St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Second Street just gave us a generous donation—they closed up shop but left us some money.” Schell didn’t want to reveal the amount but she was very happily calculating were the windfall could best be spent.
Other churches have helped mostly by “faithfully donating food and money,” said Schell. “They have kept us going when times were lean.” Some of those appreciated churches include Faith Evangelical Lutheran, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran, St. John’s UCC, Shepherd of the Hills. Some civic organizations pitch in: Whitehall Township Woman’s Club and the Lion’s Club of Whitehall.
Schell is enthusiastic about the network of volunteers and organizations that keep this little operation going. “Whitehall Food Bank is very rich in volunteers but we are always short on food,” she said. “We have a wonderful group of people who work hours and hours. Young and old help out, [church] members and non-members—most have full-time jobs.”
These are the kinds of folks who probably know of the exhortation from Psalms 146: “How blessed is he . . . who gives food to the hungry.”
“Doreen Wagner comes every week with her 12-year old granddaughter Alycia Wagner and Alycia’s friends Mariah Lopez, Tamara Wesmann and CeCe Barona. Scott Heefner is an ‘every week’ regular. Donna Scott brings the bread from Weiss Market (they provide bread every week) and helps unload the food that Tom Steckel and Dave Heffernan pick up from Second Harvest every four to six weeks.”
It isn’t just the manual labor that keeps things going. “Carol Siegmund handles the checking and savings accounts,” said Schell. “Judy Kuntz, our church secretary, handles correspondence associated for the Food Bank.”
Some provide financial back-up for supplies that run short. “Karen and Marty Brynildsen help buy food when we fall short. For example, they bought enough pancake mix to cover [a shortage].”
This year the Food Bank added free clothing to their services. “Karen Brynildsen and Doreen Wagner started a clothing drive for the recipients for the food bank,” said Schell. “Marilyn Shive and Darlene Dimmick organize and distribute the clothing which is free to our recipients.”
Northampton High School senior Karrysa Herman her mother, Denise, come in on Monday nights to help distribute food. Other hard workers include Joe and Matthew Lathrop, John Rothschild, Charlie Robinson, Terry Daubet and Dottie Lesavoy. Beverly and Tom Donegal also help with their hard work..
The annual food drive conducted by postal workers get a special, emotional ‘thank you’ from Schell. “The postal workers are doing this on their own time—they’re also breaking their backs.” She pointed to a poster board with food-laden mail trucks and postal workers posing with their culinary collections from customers on their mail routes.
“Second Harvest faxes me a list of what is available and I can stock up.” The “available” list varies every week so there is no chance to keep a dependable supply of any particular brand. This week Schell ordered 10 cases of corned beef and 10 cases of meat balls with tomato sauce. Second Harvest provides 70 per cent of the food to the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Food Pantry.
Sometimes candy is available from her suppliers. The fiscally creative Schell once had what she thought was a great idea: take the candy, have church youth groups re-sell it at fund-raisers and use the money from the candy sales to buy hard-to-find staples to give out to the needy. But, no. Strictly against government rules. No selling of donated candy to buy something useful.
Other food donors include Nestlès who “is very generous” said Schell. The shelves have scatterings of Nestlès’ chocolate drink mix and other products.
Recently Boy Scout Zachary Wehr proposed an Eagle Scout project that he hopes will raise 6,000 pounds of food.
Schell is hoping for donations of the hard-to-find items: jelly, peanut butter, and canned tuna fish. She also needs a food freezer to replace one that is broken.
The Food Bank’s service is for Whitehall residents only who have a financial need. Each family gets one visit per month and should bring bags or boxes for their food. Call 610-262-1264 for an appointment but call only between 9 a. m. and 8 p. m. (It is a private home.)