September 2024 St. Joseph Food Pantry Report

October 4, 2024

September 2024:   3,119 weekly meal servings to our food insecure neighbors. 

September was a very busy month at St. Joseph’s Pantry, providing 3,119 weekly meal servings to our food insecure neighbors. Last week volunteers provided food for 225 households on a single Thursday afternoon. The recent increase in number of applicants coincided with the opening of school and can be partially explained by the cessation of the summer food distributions scheduled by the Food Bank of Eastern NC at designated sites throughout Pender County. Many of our returning families praised this valuable program that supplied packages of nourishing food for their school age children during the summer vacation. The Pantry was happy to distribute fliers promoting this program in early June.

 

Burgaw’s St. Joseph’s Food Pantry is a community project with volunteers from Pender and New Hanover Counties. There are more than 75 individuals who volunteer time with this mission. They attend to tasks including registration of applicants, data collection, food pickup, food transport, loading food in storage, packaging food in boxes for each household, and loading the boxes into vehicles each Thursday.

 

In the past, St. Joseph’s reports have highlighted some of what happens in the registration hall and the people who welcome pantry guests. In the next few months, they will turn the spotlight on the contributions of other volunteers and how they contribute to the food distribution. Today it will begin with volunteers who keep St. Joseph’s stocked with food. 

 

·        Pick up empty boxes at ABC Store, every week (Dan & Dave)

·        Pick up All Saints Parish’s Food Donation, Thursday (Art & Maureen)

·        Pick up Apple Annie’s pastry donation., Thursday (Patricia)

·        Pick up Feast Down East, Wednesdays at Train Depot (Marianne & Justin))

·        Food Bank of Eastern NC, once or twice a month (Pete, Tim, Dan & Robert drive their trucks for big pick-ups)

·        Deliver Good Shepherd’s Second Helping, Thursday, after making pancakes (Phil brings second helpings to Burgaw)

·        Pick up Harris Teeter donation, Monday, 9:00 am (Jim & Patricia)

·        Pick up Harris Teeter donation, Wednesday, 9:00 am (Marianne & Justin)

·        Pick up Panera Bread donation, Wednesday evening (Brian or Dan)

·        Delivery from St. Therese Parish, Monday

·        Pick up Walmart’s Food Donation, Wednesday (Lidia, Steve, Glen)

·        Pick up Wilmington Bread Co., (Francine)

·        Unload and Store Monthly Food Delivery from TFEAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program):                                                                                                       

Drivers - John, John and Corny Unloaders - Dan, Jerry, Kevin, Roy, Dave, Ralph, KC, Atti, Kim, Lidia, Dennis, Jim, Phil, Paul.

                                                                                                                                                                             –   

Elias, a farm worker from Duplin County earning $300 a week, arrived in the car of a neighbor.  Elias recently immigrated from Honduras with Juan, his 8-year-old son. This father tenderly described his son who was in school learning English, but tears filled his eyes when his story turned to his wife and younger twins back in Honduras. Th family did not have sufficient funds for all of them to travel. The Drug Cartel wanted Juan, so they had no time for delay. Elias is working hard to be reunited with his loved ones.

 

Jake, an elderly senior citizen, waited outside the registration hall on Thursday. Kevin, who directs parking in the lot, noticed and approached Jake 3 or 4 times inquiring if he could help. Each time Jake responded in the negative. Eventually, Jake entered the hall and sat in the back row. Recognizing him from previous visits, I approached Jake and inquired if he wanted to register for food. Jake shook his head explaining that he just needed a ride. He proceeded to put his hand in his pocket while explaining he had gas money but no car and needed to go to the hospital in Wilmington. When I enquired if he was sick. Jake replied ‘No”, clarifying that he needed to go to the hospital to visit his mother who was there with “a very bad heart”. He was sure someone would be in the hospital visiting his mother to bring him home. Staff responded. Bill, a faithful volunteer, called Uber and others chipped in to pay the fare.

 

Volunteers meet immigrants, low-wage workers, and many struggling seniors at the Food Pantry in Burgaw. All are welcomed. A few are difficult, most are patient and endearing. Volunteers learn their names, find beauty in their stories, make them smile, and are enriched by these encounters. 


The Gospel Stories are Personal.

This Personal Attention to the Poor Continues at St. Joseph’s.


St. Joseph’s Food Pantry

1303 US 117, Burgaw, NC 28425

Patricia Kopchick, Director

518-275-9887

stjoesfoodpantry@yahoo.com

Homilies

July 29, 2025
17 th Sunday of the Year C Gen 18:20-32; Col 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13 Have you ever had conversations with people who have expressed a distaste for many of the beliefs and practices of organized religion ? Sometimes these criticisms come from people who have had “bad” religious experiences in their own families or have seen what they feel is an ugly side of faith. I understand that. Some others have been hurt and disappointed by the common failings and faults of some of the faithful in the pews. Many others have been particularly crushed by the serious sins of Church leadership. Yet, there are others who simply are trying to be intellectually honest --- people who have truly wrestled with some of the big questions of life and faith and have been relatively unsatisfied with the “answers” religion provides. They “want” to believe at some level but just find too many obstacles. And sometimes that “obstacle” is the image of God presented to them. One particular element of Christianity that I hear criticized so often is the way we seem to ask God for things over and over again. Many people assert that they just, don’t understand why it needs to be this way! They argue: God knows everything. God knows exactly what we need (and want). So why do we need to ask? God has infinite power . There are no limits to what he can do. We don’t have to try to get his “attention” because he is “busy” elsewhere. So why do we need to ask? God is immutable --- which means, unchanging and unchangeable . That means we kind of diminish God if we think we can somehow “ change” his mind. So why bother to pray if God has already written the script? Well, today, in both our First Reading and Gospel passage, we hear examples illustrating the power of pleading with God. In the story from Genesis, we see Abraham “bartering” with God --- seeing if he can somehow get the best “deal” possible. Apparently, Abraham is wise enough to not ask for everything all at once, as if he’s using his charm to coax God’s mercy out of him. God goes along with each of his requests. And in the Gospel passage from Luke --- Jesus tells a story about a man banging on his friend’s door at midnight trying to get some bread for an unexpected guest. The friend initially refuses, but then gets worn down from the persistence of the man and gives in. After relating that story, Jesus utters these “famous” words, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” So, what gives? Do we have to “beg” God to get his blessings or does God actually withhold good things from us until we “wear him down”? Do we have to be expert negotiators, or charmers? Dear friends, an authentic spiritual life is about none of those things. It’s about a relationship supported, strengthened and transformed in part by a holy conversation --- what we call the divine conversation. This is a conversation that has no beginning and no ending, but rather is one that has been continual from the very dawn of time --- a sacred conversation which enables channels of grace to remain open within every single person --- a kind of listening and speaking that helps each of us remain open to an outpouring of God’s life which has the power to change absolutely everything. And so, we bring our needs to our God because we believe he loves us more than we can imagine, because we trust in his wisdom and power, because we need to put into words the deepest longings of our hearts. And maybe most importantly --- we ask, seek, and knock simply because it opens us up to every good thing God wants for us (and from us). Prayer encourages dependence on God and today’s parable shows us perseverance. We do not “keep knocking” because God isn’t aware of our needs but, rather, because we need to remain constantly aware of our daily need for him – our daily bread. Whenever we turn to God in prayer, we put our minds and hearts in contact with the very source of life and truth. And that refreshes the human soul, just as rebooting your computer refreshes the software that makes the computer run. When stress, discouragement, and frustration start to clog our circuits, we don't need to jack up the voltage by working more hours or by distracting ourselves with even more exciting entertainment; no, we need to reboot, we need to pray with perseverance. When you pray say” “Behold, I am your servant, do with and in and through me according to your will” In happy moments, seek God, in hard moments praise God, in quiet moments, trust God, in every moment, thank God. Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.
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