June 22, 2023 at St Joseph Food Pantry in Burgaw

June 22, 2023: Households Served – 127; Total People Served – 452

• 111 households participated in the Healthy Pantry Initiative at St. Joseph’s by selecting items from a wide range of fresh produce including onions, sweet potatoes, collards, squash, potatoes, cherries, and bananas. Volunteers assisted guests as they filled extra bags for incapacitated family members & neighbors without transportation. 

• Food carried to qualifying households by friends or family members is not included in the Healthy Pantry Totals because these households are not on site to personally participate in the selection of healthy foods for their boxes, nor do they have access to tasting samples.

• Joanna prepared tasting samples of bean salad which she offered with bags of beans and a recipe. 

• Barbara and Danzi welcomed guests to the sharing table where donated clothes as well as household items were displayed. This week we were able to support young families with two car seats and one Pack & Play. 

• Catholic Charities offered diapers to children and adults who needed them. 

• Maureen and Lubna invited guests to choose a dessert from the table of pastries donated by local bakeries.

• A donated supermarket gift card was gifted to a father recovering from surgery and unable to work. 

Cars filled the parking lot at St. Joseph’s Food Pantry on Thursday morning under dark and threatening skies. Then just before the noon start, the heavens released its fury on the men, women, and children who rushed undaunted to the refuge of the hall. Once seated, Patricia welcomed the wet guests and announced that distribution would be delayed until the lightning ceased. In the interim, Catholic Charities representatives informed guests about the Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) – a free program that offers an array of support services to qualified Medicaid recipients in Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Onslow, or Pender County. More information is available at Catholic Charities: (910) 252-8130. 

Mari, newly arrived from Honduras, listened attentively to the presentation in Spanish, but was not eligible for HOP. She lives in in a single room of a trailer home in Wallace with her 5 children. The shelter was provided by a sponsoring friend who facilitated Mari’s entry to the U.S. Mari’s youngest child was born earlier this month, on June 5, just days after she and her four other children ages 14, 10, 8 and 5 had completed the arduous two-month land journey across Guatemala, Mexico, and the U.S. This brave mother of five, not yet confident to reveal her entire story, explained that she had to escape Honduras for the safety of her children. Mari’s selection of donated baby items, together with her allotment of food, combined to fill the car of the sponsor who drove her to St. Joseph’s Food Pantry. 

Later, a staff member from the Domestic Violence Shelter in Pender County arrived bringing with her a young woman of 20, who recently fled an abusive situation. Residents of this temporary shelter are responsible for providing their own food which they can prepare in the on-site kitchen. However, this young woman had no money to buy food. Registering staff at St. Joseph’s alerted the volunteers who were packing and loading the food boxes about the special circumstances of this visitor and then accompanied her as she gratefully responded to invitations to choose her desired items. It soon became apparent how hungry she was as she filled her box with food topped off with 3 loaves of bread!

Sally lit up the hall late in the afternoon. She “owned the floor” in the vacant hall that had become quiet after the midday rush. Sally, had a long career in musical theater, traveling extensively over the United States. Like most artists, she did not earn much money and now at 71 years old, supports herself and a 7-year-old grandson on a mere $550 a month Social Security Check. Volunteers value this woman who works so hard to make us smile. She promised to share some photos on her next visit. Perhaps she will also sing or play her guitar?

It was those who were poor according to the world that God chose to be rich in faith and to be heirs to the Reign of God. (James 2:5)