September 2023 - St. Joseph Food Pantry Report

September 2023: Households Served – 613; Total People Served – 2284

Visitors flock to St. Joseph’s Food Pantry because their families struggle with food insecurity. Volunteers, who register and serve these neighbors on Thursday afternoons, are touched by their amazing resiliency and fortitude. Volunteers become familiar with how poverty manifests itself in a long list of hardships that tragically scar the lives of low-income neighbors. Yet our generous volunteers leave St. Joseph’s each week with sentiments of admiration, not pity.

The Sharing Table, with donated clothes and other items, is a popular stop at our Thursday distributions. Barbara, with assistance from other volunteers, arranges and continually refurbishes the gently used and new clothing with a variety of household items, toys, books, linens, and baby supplies. There are few rules for donations: They need to be clean, folded, and not smell of smoke; toys must be complete and not broken. Barbara, who lives in Burgaw reports that she frequently gets stopped in the grocery store or around town and thanked for items selected from the tables. 

• 538 households participated in the Healthy Pantry Initiative at St. Joseph’s by selecting items from a range of fresh produce including potatoes, kale, pumpkins, grapes, and apples. Marianne and Justin assisted guests with bags for incapacitated family members and neighbors without transportation. 

• Food carried to qualifying households by friends or family members is 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.

• Maureen and Exie 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.

• Volunteers from Sharing Tree of St. Mark Catholic Church waited at the exit on September 14 with bags full of cleaning supplies to distribute to the first 70 households served at the Pantry. 

• Catholic Charities and All Saints Catholic Church offered diapers to children and adults who needed them. 

• The Catholic Daughters Our Lady of the Sea Court #2519 outreach from All Saints Catholic Church supplied Food Lion gift cards to families in extreme need of food assistance. 

• Joanna offered guests tasting samples from healthy recipes for items they were receiving in their food boxes. On September 27, Joanna prepared tasting samples of Flourless Walnut Brownies! (see recipe and video at FOOD52.com) *Full disclosure: On 9/27, volunteers were breaking from their post for Joanna’s tasting table!