By B.C. Manion
It isn’t even Halloween yet, but workers at Helping Hands Pantry are already starting to worry that they won’t have enough food in their cupboard to help families in need during the holidays.
Like many individuals and companies, the community food bank headquartered at Atonement Lutheran Church of Wesley Chapel is taking a hit from the tough economy.
Some of the people and organizations that have helped in the past can’t do so this year, said Yvette Williams, assistant director of the food pantry. So, the organization is planning a couple of events aimed at drumming up some support.
It will host a Trunk-A-Treat on Sunday, Oct. 23 to solicit donations to help provide food for Thanksgiving dinners. It also is hosting a “Help Stock our Shelves Pancake Breakfast and Fall Festival” on Saturday, Nov. 12.
Proceeds from those events will support the purchase of turkeys for holiday dinners.
The need is enormous, Williams said.
“When we first opened, we had about 50 recipients,” Williams said, noting the food pantry started up in March 2009.
Now, she said, “we’re averaging anywhere from 190 to 200 families.”
The pantry provides families a two-day supply of food, and during 2010 it distributed about 283,850 pounds of food to more than 8,213 families, representing a total of 26,866 people.
“When we opened, we thought we would be helping the homeless,” she said.
But it turns out that homeless people don’t come to the pantry much because they need a ride to get there.
“So, we’ve been having people come because they’ve lost their jobs, or had their salary or hours cut,” Williams said.
“It’s really heart-wrenching because of the different stories you hear,” Williams said.
“We have families that are combining. One might have lost the house and they move in with their relative or friends.
“You find out that because a husband has lost a job, it’s humiliating for them to come in for help,” she added. “It’s so sad when you see a man cry.”
The food pantry does all it can to make people feel welcome and to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect, she said.
“Our volunteers are quick to give you a kind word. Give you a hug, if you need it. By the time they walk through these doors, they feel better.
“We try to make it very pleasant,” she said. “It could be any one of us.”
Some of the people that the food pantry helps end up becoming volunteers, she said.
There are also a large number of community groups, local businesses, schools and about 200 individual volunteers who provide donations and volunteer help, she said.
But the organization still has many needs.
“We are trying to get a walk-in freezer, if anyone knows of one and wants to donate it to us, give us a call,” she said.
“We can always use volunteers. We need men to help move stuff, to put stuff back,” she said.
The food pantry also needs donations of various foods, including canned fruits and vegetables, boxes of cereal, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter and jelly and other foods.
It can especially use donations of quart and gallon plastic bags, so it doesn’t have to buy them, Williams said.
The plastic bags are used to provide servings of cereal and other foods, she said.
“We don’t give a box of cereal unless it’s a big family,” she said. However, she added, “We try to give a little” when they can.
The organization also provides school supplies and holiday presents for children.
It’s never too early to start shopping for those holiday gifts, she added. “If they want to start Christmas shopping for kids, they can just bring it (present) by any day.”
Williams said she has been touched by the kind hearts in the community.
A group of kindergarteners from a Montessori school in Wesley Chapel came by to tour the food pantry, Williams said. After they visited, they decided they wanted to help.
“They had a bake sale and gave us close to $500,” she said.
The pantry welcomes donations of all sizes.
“We’re grateful for anything that we get,” she said.
Anyone who wants to help can bring his or her donations to the church office, which is open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday. If they want to help pay for holiday turkeys, they can make their checks out to “Helping Hands Pantry.”
The food pantry is open on Wednesdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information, call the church at (813) 973-2211.
Trunk-A-Treat
When: Sunday, Oct. 23, 5-11 p.m.
What: Cars will be decorated and children will be able to trick-or-treat from the trunks of cars. Participants are asked to bring canned goods to help stock the Atonement Lutheran Food Pantry so it can stock up to help families in need. The items will be used to help provide a nice Thanksgiving for families in need and to help stock the pantry. The event also will showcase the church’s ministries.
Where: 29617 SR 54 in Wesley Chapel
Help Stock our Shelves Pancake Breakfast and Fall Festival
When: Saturday, Nov. 12, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
What: Sausage, eggs, pancakes, coffee and juice. Lots of games, music, activities, a car show, dunk the pastor and other fun.
Participants are asked to bring canned goods to help those in need at Thanksgiving and to help stock the pantry.
Where: 29617 SR 54 in Wesley Chapel
