Wesley Chapel/New Tampa News

The Helping Hands Choice Food Pantry at Atonement Lutheran Church of Wesley Chapel began more than a decade ago with a simple goal — to feed the hungry.

Carl Haberland came up with the idea.

“He had this dream that he was supposed to feed people in need,” said Carla Haberland, who has led the church’s food pantry efforts since her husband’s death in 2011.

“It started out with a Christmas Eve dinner, between services, for the community, and baskets of food,” she recalled.

That was in 2006.

When the church began feeding the hungry, it still had a day care, so it had limited amount of space, Haberland said.

But, when the day care closed, the Helping Hands food pantry opened, distributing food every Wednesday to those in need.

“It started out with like 10, 20 families,” the food pantry director said.

“It didn’t take long to figure out that we couldn’t afford to keep buying the food at Save-A-Lot,” she said.

The pantry signed up with what was then Suncoast Harvest in Land O’ Lakes. There is no longer a food bank there and the organization is now called Feeding Tampa Bay.

The church also signed up to receive foods for the pantry from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Now, it has nearly 1,200 registered, active families, and on any given week, between 270 to 330 families show up to pick up food.

“USDA requires a form. For us to give you USDA, there’s certain criteria. You have to live in Pasco County,” Haberland said, noting there are five ways to qualify for USDA assistance.

The pantry is organized somewhat like a store.

It opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m., but people begin lining up long before opening.

Around 8 a.m., Helping Hands opens its doors to let people register or check in. People get numbers, and some leave and return, while others stay and wait outside.

Haberland thinks the people who are driving by and see the large line of people in need — are touched by what they see and prompted to help.

Besides the USDA, the pantry gets food from Feeding Tampa Bay, through donations from local stores, from local organizations and from individual contributors.

There’s also about 40 regular volunteers, who handle all sorts of chores. They pick up food items, sort them, store them, stock the shopping tables, work the distribution lines and do other miscellaneous tasks.

It’s an operation that truly requires many helping hands.

Besides the regular crew, there are others who come in for special occasions.

For instance, officers from the Giraffe Club were at the pantry recently, handing out Mother’s Day gift bags to moms visiting the pantry. Each gift bag was hand-decorated by Giraffe Club members and stocked with goodies to pamper the ladies.

While she has a steady crew of volunteers, Haberland said she always makes room for kids who want to volunteer and can always use more volunteers with muscle.

It’s a big job
The pantry distributes nearly 10,000 pounds of food each week. Items doled out weekly vary, based on what comes in.

One recent week, the USDA tables were stocked with grape juice, milk, cereal, canned peaches and orange juice.

Other tables had bread, chips, salad dressings, canned goods, desserts and produce.

There’s a meat counter, too.

On this particular week, each family received a package of lunchmeat and one meat item.

As people make their way around the tables, volunteers let them know if they can take one item or two, depending on what’s available.

Usually fresh produce is scarce, but on this Wednesday, there was a large supply of romaine lettuce.

That’s because the pantry received an unexpected contribution, Haberland said.

“I had a call Sunday evening, at 5 o’clock, from a trucker, saying, ‘I’m at the rest area, northbound, on (Interstate) 75, I have five cases of romaine lettuce. Can you run and pick it up?’” she said.

And, because of that, Land O’ Lakes volunteer Barbara Packer said, “everybody is going to get a lettuce or a salad, and they’ll probably get one other (fresh vegetable) choice.”

Volume dictates how many choices a family will have, Packer said, “but at least they make the choices. They can make the decisions for their families.”

Besides providing food, the pantry provides something else that matters, Packer noted.

“The neat thing is the fact that we’re kind and positive, and smiling, with our families,” Packer said.

That’s particularly important, she added, “because so many times everybody is saying ‘No’ to them in so many other phases of their life.”

Marina Buff, who lives in San Antonio, has been a Helping Hands volunteer for several years.

“It’s just such an important thing. It needs to be done. There are too many people without food,” Buff said.

Packer agreed: “They just need the basics. They’re kind of the forgotten people.”

It’s true that the volunteers help the pantry, but the pantry helps them, too, Haberland said.

It gives them an opportunity to be needed, and it feels good to do something for someone else, she said.

Haberland said the blessings the pantry receives come in many forms.

The romaine lettuce is just one example, she said.

“Somebody else, from Flying J, a trucker, had 750 pounds of mashed potatoes.”

Plus, she added, “I know that my car will hold 68 king-size bed pillows. I know that, because Target donated like three pallets of bed pillows one week.”

There’s no such as a typical day or week at the pantry, Haberland said.

“It’s like you’re on call 24/7,” she said.

There are times when she gets tired, she acknowledged, and she wonders to herself: “What are you doing this for?”

Then, she said, “You think of the people — and there’s nothing that touches you more.

“You’ll get a new family that comes through and by the time they get around to the meat counter, they’re crying. They are so overwhelmed with the help that they get,” she said.

So, that question that Haberland sometimes asks herself? It always has the same answer.

“Obviously, we’re supposed to be doing this,” the pantry director said.

Pantry wish list
What’s on the Helping Hands’ wish list?
A remodeling project has created the need for Helping Hands Choice Food Pantry to replace its walk-in cooler. The freezer/cooler combination that it needs will cost $30,000. Anyone who wants to help the pantry meet this need should call Carla Haberland at (813) 973-2211.

Published May 24, 2017