This morning Jim McLaughlin and I went back to St. Columba Church where the St. Vincent de Paul Society organizes a weekly food distribution for needy and hungry people.
They quickly supplied me with an apron and plastic gloves and put me to work. My first task was bagging potatoes and yams and onions together.
21 volunteers sorted, cleaned, and repackaged a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits and loaves of bread and bags of rice. Food comes from a city food bank and from supermarket chains.
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These volunteers were opening packages of fruit to remove old and discolored pieces, and then repackaging them for insertion into 65 big brown paper bags that were distributed to people lined up at 11:00 AM.
Jim McLaughlin (L) and a colleague broke down the cardboard boxes for recycling. A parishioner collects the bundled boxes and sells them to a recycler to raise money for her grandson’s school expenses.
In addition to the neighborhood’s needs and hunger, there is a fear of the government’s arresting and detaining people who might be coming to the church.
