Food Pantry, Volunteer needed by Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

The Helpers Desperately Need Help

The recent review of our church activities by the outside consultants told us that our congregation has some real strengths. Our Human Care Ministry, the Pantry, where we support hundreds of families each single week was mentioned as one of the major outreach programs of ORLC. All of us want to keep it this way and hopefully grow our efforts, especially at this time of economic strain on many new families.
But there are two big issues facing us: Volunteering and finances.

While we have more than 50 volunteers in total, many of them can afford only a few hours here and there. And most of them come from the outside, not from our church. We are very grateful to have them but we need a few more “constant” helpers. Those spending a lot of time from our congregation are just faced with too much work. Tom Pelton and Norm Sturdevant spend endless hours and miles picking up food from supermarkets and other places and badly need help. Ed Worlund is feeling his health getting impacted by the load he carries. Maria Volkert and Lois Hutton are not getting any younger despite their energy and willingness to step in. Pam Pires and Pik Sugandha are trying to remain cheerful despite facing constant obstacles. Shirley Orrison is rushing from one special support occasion to the other and even finds time to talk to donors. Allen Barbèe, who just recently recovered from his life-threatening health problems, tries to hold it all together. They are stretched and it will not look good for the future of the Pantry if anybody quits because she or he has reached or passed the limits of their capacity.

We are trying desperately to find addi-tional volunteers. If you can help or have any ideas how we can attract new helpers please give Allen a call or drop us a note at the Human Care Ministry. Even if you only can commit to a few days per month, even if only for a few hours, we would like to hear from you. If your kids go to a school and would like to participate in a commu-nity support program, let us know and we’ll talk to the teachers.

Don’t forget - it is because of all these volunteers that we still can keep the Pantry open. Our finances just do not allow hiring someone to run it and to man it. Last year we had to cover a deficit of $8,000 from our reserves which are dwindling quickly if we cannot change the trend. We hope that a planned major fundraising effort will bring in enough financial support that we are able to buy food and cover the Pantry expen-ses. Within the coming 3 to 4 weeks we will initiate this outside fundraising campaign to hopefully get support from companies and foun-dations in our area. But we have to realize that any new funds might only come with a delay as first we have to be included into their annual charitable giving budgets.

In the meantime we ask that you include the Pantry into your giving before the end of this year.

Thank you, God bless and pray that we find open hearts with our activities.

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