Entirely volunteer-led team helps hundreds of people put meals on the table
Temperatures were below freezing at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (SEAS) Catholic Church’s monthly food distribution in January, and yet volunteers still showed up to serve their neighbors facing hunger.
More than 400 people drove away from the event with food to last the month. Days like those are hard work for the entirely volunteer-run distribution team, but volunteers say it’s worth it to help their neighbors facing hunger. “Especially seeing the veterans line up,” explained volunteer Kassi, “Being able to serve those that have served our country, seeing families with children come through – that’s definitely motivation to come out on the hot and cold days.”
Four-hundred people is a common number for SEAS’s food distributions. The operation consists of careful planning, managing partnerships with Ozarks Food Harvest and a local grocery store, and coordination of 30 to 40 church and community volunteers every month – and every step is handled by dedicated volunteers.
Tom Ryan has taken on the task of communicating with Ozarks Food Harvest and determining how much food the SEAS pantry will need to feed their community each month. Yes, he does it for free. And yes, it’s basically a part-time job. But Tom does it happily because he’s passionate about helping his neighbors.
“There are so many unmet needs in our community, but we all need something to eat,” Tom shared. “From the young to the old, returning veterans that have served our country, we see it all through these lines that come through our church’s distribution every month. Continuing to support this program means supporting healthy food going out to those who need it.”
April is Volunteer Appreciation Month. Ozarks Food Harvest will be recognizing our amazing volunteers, but we can’t forget about the partner faith-based and community charities in our network that rely on volunteers to ensure our neighbors have access to food when times are tough.
Like the SEAS pantry, many of our partner charities rely mostly or entirely on volunteers to operate, and volunteers are crucial at Ozarks Food Harvest as well. At The Food Bank, volunteers help us process more than 5 million pounds of food annually. Thank you so much to everyone who gives their time to help end hunger in the Ozarks.
Get involved today at ozarksfoodharvest.org/volunteer, or visit ozarksfoodharvest.org/need-help to help out at one of our partner charities.