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Over Coffee
They stand in the heat in lines that wind from the receiving window to the end of the street and food pantry volunteers say those lines last for hours.
I watched the lines grow as I made my way from my car into the warehouse that stores the food that was being dispensed. The people were as varied as those in a line you might find in a grocery store, or buying food at a discount house like Wal-Mart or Target. There were young mothers with infants in strollers and children of all ages, elderly men leaning on canes, and one woman in a wheelchair. The rest were just ordinary adults of all ages, sizes and skin colors.
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| Penny Fletcher Photo
Sun City Center residents Claude and Beverly Webster coordinate the food pantry, working all week to locate, transport and pack donated food and other items. With a background in sales, Claude knows how to seek out the best values and lowest price.
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If I hadn’t known they were waiting to receive free bags of food, I wouldn’t have guessed they were going through hard times. They were just ordinary folks. Folks like you and me.
For the most part, they were orderly, and expectant. A neatly-dressed woman who looked like she worked in an office – skirt, high heeled shoes, hair nicely combed – asked if they were accepting any new applicants.
“No,” came the answer. “We’re terribly sorry, but only those already registered can receive food today.”
“We’ve both lost our jobs,” the woman told me as she was leaving; choosing me to talk to because I was carrying a notebook and had been taking photographs inside the warehouse. “I just don’t know what we’re going to do.”
I didn’t know either, but I wondered about it as I watched her walk across the parking lot and pull out on the street. I wondered how much gas she had and if she had the money to buy more. Was she going job hunting, or would she spend the rest of her day trying to find food to feed her family?
There wasn’t much time for me to ponder on it. The window had opened, and hundreds of people were flocking towards it.
Every Wednesday 472 families registered receive bags of food at the St. Anne Catholic Church Outreach Food Pantry in Ruskin. But many more cannot be served because of a lack of food and volunteer manpower.
Families with from one-to-five members receive one bag of food. Families of more than six receive two bags. There is no charge, and the operation has no budget or paid employees.
If someone comes who is not registered, but hungry, they are given one complimentary bag of food and directed to another pantry in the area. A complimentary bag does not have any United States Department of Agriculture items in it, as USDA regulations do not allow food to be given to anyone the USDA does not consider qualified under its guidelines.
Volunteers know that too many fall between the cracks of government guidelines so they operate on private donations as much as they can. They receive about $19,500 worth of food products from USDA a year, which leaves them needing to raise a minimum of $67,000 in donations to cover just the people already registered.
Nothing is wasted, and the cheapest prices are found.
Claude and Beverly Webster, coordinators of the pantry, spend all week locating, transporting and sorting food, gathering their helpers, and finally, bagging and dispensing the goods.
“We’re up at 5:30 (a.m.),” Beverly said. “On Mondays we go to Publix for the day old baked goods. Tuesdays we have to move boxes. Wednesdays we’re here (at the pantry).”
But that’s not all. Claude, who has a background in sales, makes hundreds of telephone calls to locate the best price on flats of canned goods and other products. “He’s really good at it,” Beverly said. “He can track down the differences in price and figure out how much more we can get for the money but it takes a lot of time – and work.”
The couple took over the coordinator’s job from Bill and Elaine Richards a little less than three years ago. Elaine died, and Bill is 81. “There’s a lot of lifting and shoving involved,” Beverly said, pointing to stacks of heavy boxes full of cans.
Even with about 75 volunteers, they could use many more.
“The need is so great,” Claude said, “people have no idea. I have seen families come in for food and leave the window and sit right down on the side of the street and start eating.”
Many have not eaten for a while.
“I know that this day, they have something and that keeps me going,” said Beverly. “But there are so many days they don’t (have anything) it’s heartbreaking.”
The pantry receives food from America’s Second Harvest and twice a month they get boxes from the USDA. They also go to Lakeland weekly in a donated truck to pick up banana boxes filled with donations, never knowing what will be in them.
“Sometimes we get boxes (not from USDA) donated that contain everything from bottled water and diapers to dented cans. We don’t know what’s in them until we start sorting,” Beverly said.
They have also received grants from the Helen Hill Fund, a fund within the Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center and from the Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons Charitable Foundation Inc.
But despite generous donations, the need far outweighs the gifts.
As I write this, I wonder about the woman who couldn’t sign up that day and the hundreds of others just like her.
The church I attend, like many others in the area, collects food for the local food pantries and money for the poor. But with things as they are, it is never enough.
The Bible says “the poor will always be with us” but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to help everyone we can. Thinking about that reminds me of the story of the little girl walking along the beach throwing starfish and other small sea creatures from the sand back into the Gulf.
“That’s just a waste of time,” the mother in the story supposedly said. “There are thousands of them. You can’t save them all.”
“I know that Mama,” the little girl answered. But I saved this one,” and with that statement, she picked up another tiny starfish and threw it back into the Gulf where it caught a wave and was pulled back into its watery home.
One more saved. That’s always good.
I didn’t have any coffee with the Websters, although they had a pot going in the warehouse and when they first contacted me, they asked if they could meet me for coffee to talk. I’m glad I chose to meet them at the food pantry instead. Watching the volunteers pack bags for the people at the window was satisfying enough.
To find out how you can donate volunteer hours, money or food, call the church office at (813) 645-1714 or visit the church, 106 11th Ave. N.E., Ruskin, just north of SweetBay Supermarket.
*Perhaps you have something you’d like to share. Or maybe you’d rather tell the community about your favorite charity or cause: or sound off about something you think needs change. That’s what “Over Coffee” is about. It really doesn’t matter whether we actually drink any coffee or not (although I probably will). It’s what you have to say that’s important. E-mail me any time and suggest a meeting place. No matter what’s going on, I’m usually available to share just one more cup. Or maybe you’d like to tune into the new radio show I’m hosting, “The Uncensored Reporter.” It’s available across the country on both AM and FM radio but so far I haven’t found out the call numbers for our area so I just direct everyone to www.themicroeffect.com on their computers Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-to-4 p.m. It’s a call-in show so maybe you’ve got some ideas or comments you’d like to share on the air. Just click on “Listen Live” and give it a whirl.
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