This past year, you have likely seen the extensive news coverage of food assistance efforts — assembly lines of volunteers moving food boxes into the cars of neighbors driving through to pick up the much-needed groceries.
While these stories capture human charity, you’re less likely to see the behind-the-scenes, intricate operations which make these distributions possible. An example of this pre-work took place on March 27 at Saint John Vianney Church, Infant Jesus Parish in Woodbury, where the floor of the former rectory was a sea of plastic and paper bags, the four walls obscured by towers of food items and personal care items. A team of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVDP) volunteers belonging to Saint Margaret Parish bustled about the room like worker bees preparing this organized chaos for the final, familiar phase — a distribution event for the following day when cars of families would arrive on Palm Sunday to receive boxes of groceries, a complete Easter meal with a ham or turkey and all the feast fixings, two-weeks worth of meals including fresh produce and a dozen eggs, and personal care products. The donations even included fresh pineapples.
The SVDP co-chair for holiday food distributions, Vanessa Messina, begins planning for the Easter food give-away in February. Messina, quick to credit the generosity and teamwork of the parishioners, explains that “each and every one of the members has their duties” and the whole operation runs like “a well-oiled machine.”
While the SVDP chapter has been hosting this Easter give-away for about three decades, this year brought about new challenges — and new opportunities for members to step up and find ways to prepare — calling families in need, making lists of items, organizing collections prior to the distribution, and ensuring each family would receive a personalized box based on their individual needs.
“A lot of hard work goes into it. It is not an easy thing to organize,” Messina said. The effort depends on teamwork with each person filling a particular role.
Messina usually takes off from work the Monday after distribution, because the whole thing is not only physically exhausting, but also emotionally. She spends time talking to the families, eager to hear what their lives have been like since she last saw them at the SVDP chapter’s Christmas food box and toy distribution three months prior. Her heart fills with compassion for their struggles and joy for their successes. With a big “Ahhh” she demonstrates the exhale of relief and exhaustion the whole team feels at the end of the whole event. But she is resolved, saying, “I’ll do as many sleepless nights as I have to for the outcome.” Easter food giveaways are a long-standing tradition among many SVDP and social ministry groups in parishes throughout our diocese, in addition to year-long food assistance services. In this final week of Lent, it is fitting to recognize and thank these dedicated volunteers for their behind-the-scenes efforts. The final outcome can be more fully appreciated when the backstory is known. Similarly, when we reflect on the labor of Christ’s passion, we can more fully appreciate the glorious image of the resurrected Savior.
Cristina Chillem is Health and Wellness Director at Catholic Charities, Diocese of Camden.
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