Giving Back and Taking In

Lifting turkey roasts, chicken quarters, packages of cheese and pizza doesn’t sound too strenuous. That is until you’ve done it more than a dozen times in less than an hour. 

Thursday was Patch’s Give 5 Day, where employees volunteer their time within their community. I chose to donate my time to  (TEAM) Food Pantry. The TEAM food pantry helps families within the Florissant and Hazelwood area with their monthly groceries or in other way that they can help.

I quickly discovered, upon my arrival, that the Thursday crew is a small bunch with a great system and a lot of spirit. The crew of six ladies and four gentlemen in the back welcomed me with open arms and put me right to work.

My job? My duties and responsibilities of the day were to make sure that families coming to pick up their food that day received meat, cheese, pizza, margarine and miscellaneous cold products, and we were busy.

We completed 39 orders that day, which included families with as few as one adult or as many as six children and one adult.

I learned a great deal about the food pantry, too. For example, all of the women told me about the limited products that they have. One-fifth of the products come from government commodities, and the rest of the food is from personal donations or donations from within the community, such as churches, schools, fire stations and others.

It became apparent very quickly of how much those donations truly mean to the pantry and to those families. During the morning time, the freezers and table was fully stocked with food for us to supply families.

By the end of the day, the supply was running low, and it became harder and harder to find things for the bigger families.

Although I only spent four hours with the Thursday crew at the TEAM food pantry, the pantry is there 365 days a year with the need of donations day in and day out.

The pantry welcomes donations in the form of food, toiletries or even cash. It was a wonderful day, and I’m grateful to the pantry for the opportunity and the experience.