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

August 2024: Households Served – 790; Individuals Served – 3,220

All Saints’ Father’s Day baby shower helped many families in need

June, 2024: Households Served – 712; Total People Served – 2,826

A client shares what Meals on Wheels means to them

February 2024: Households Served – 943; Total People Served – 3638; Weekly Average – 189 households; 728 individuals • 780 households participated in the Healthy Pantry Initiative at St. Joseph’s by selecting items from a range of fresh produce. Marianne and Justin assisted guests with filling and carrying bags to cars for incapacitated family members & neighbors without transportation. • Households where food is delivered by friends or family members are not included in the Healthy Pantry Totals because these households are not on site to personally participate in the selection of healthy foods for their boxes, nor do they have access to tasting samples. • Exie and Pete invited guests to choose a bread item and dessert from the table of pastries donated by local bakeries. • Barbara welcomed guests to the sharing table where donated clothes and shoes for men, women, and children, as well as household items, were displayed. • Diaper donations from All Saints Parish were offered for children and adults who needed them. • Joanna offered guests tasting samples from healthy recipes for items they were receiving in their food boxes. One such recipe was for rice pudding which, upon tasting, pleasantly surprised our guests! They couldn’t believe how good it was, and all wanted the recipe! Joanna always supplies printed copies of her recipes, in both English and Spanish, for our guests to prepare at home, and those are greatly appreciated! Our guests who come to the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry are loving people who struggle with food insecurity. They are people striving for survival and wellness for themselves and their families. Jobs available to them include farm worker, landscape worker, construction worker, house or business cleaner, private home or nursing home health care worker, fast food restaurant employee, and factory worker in a meat processing plant (poultry or hog) to name a few. Almost all are on a part time basis with low hourly wages and NO benefits. If inclement weather, illness, or injury keeps them from working, they cannot support their families. However, they take the jobs they can get and volunteers at St. Joseph’s are consistently amazed by their resilience and faithful spirits. One of our guests, Aleyda, is a single mom who works to support her family of six – herself, three children, and two seniors. Her job is to thoroughly clean pig/hog houses for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. She earns only $400 per week (and no benefits) for this exhausting, dirty, and thankless job, but she never complained as she explained her work. She wears a heavy, unventilated, and cumbersome sounding outfit covering her entire body which, she says, makes it a little harder to move quickly and is very warm. Summer however, Aleyda said, is the hardest due to the extreme heat and the smells! Her pride was evident on her face as volunteers expressed admiration for her ability to manage such a difficult job. Without the food, clothes, and additional help provided by St. Joe’s, Aleyda and our other guests would be unable to support their families each week. This mission at St. Joseph’s is only possible due to the compassion stemming not only from the hearts of our volunteers, but also from the hearts of our generous supporters. The food and diapers donated by All Saints Parish, monetary donations from All Saints and St. Therese parishes, as well as food, clothing, toy, and monetary donations from kind individuals are very necessary supplements to the food from government and area grocery/bakery allotments. During this Lenten season, we celebrate the joy you create at St. Joseph’s through your almsgiving and extend our sincere gratitude to all! We could not keep the doors of St. Joseph’s open each week without your overflowing generosity! The kindness, compassion, and hospitality of the volunteers at St. Joseph’s Food Pantry, create a warm and welcoming atmosphere and are the key reasons our numbers continue to increase each Thursday. This month multiple handouts were distributed – one for each nearby county – listing the available food pantries in that county. As people were being registered, Kathy spoke to individuals as they patiently waited their turn. She asked if they had visited any of the other food pantries that were listed. Almost all told her that they had tried other places, but they did not really want to return. They told her they didn’t feel welcomed like they do at St. Joe’s. They also told Kathy they had to have an ID to get food, and if they could not speak English, they had to bring their own translator. Finally, they felt the people working were very impatient when they couldn’t understand what the client’s needs were. The workers were not very helpful, our guests told Kathy. They said they would rather come to St. Joe’s each Thursday and wait because everyone is so kind. *The gospel stories tell us to take care of the poor, the sick, the hungry, the vulnerable – and we take care of Jesus in disguise. If we ignore the needs of others, it’s Jesus we’re ignoring. A Lenten Prayer – Jesus, I believe you are the Christ and that you also wear the face of my neighbor. Help me to see you, Lord, in the unlikeliest faces and places and remember my duty to those in need. * from the book Our Lenten Road to Holiness , by Alice Camille

Veterans Day & World Kindness Week

175 households served, 673 people

Meals on Wheels ministry opportunity, at All Saints in Hampstead, to help prepare homestyle meals for the homebound