Each week, some how, some way, there always seems to be enough volunteers to make the food distribution flow smoothly at the Wooster Hope Center’s Greater Wayne County Food Pantry at 807 Spruce St., Wooster. One recent week it was a small Bible study group from Parkview Christian Church (of which I am a part) whose participation helped to ease the workload of several regular volunteers.
Rowdy White, who leads the group, had told its members he wanted to find ways to serve the community. Previously, the small group helped with landscaping at another nonprofit organization in Wooster, and on this night, it was to help with the food distribution at the Greater Wayne County Food Pantry. As for why he wanted the group to serve the community, Rowdy said, “Because we love Jesus. It is what he told us to do.”
For Kristy Shearer, she said it was fun serving others. She teamed with Jen Hatfield to help gather the groceries off the shelves into a wagon before pulling them out to the guests’ vehicles. Jen had volunteered before with the Wooster Hope Center, which operates the food pantry. She worked with her sister, Jaime Jackson, on the Backpack of Food Program, which provides students in 11 elementary schools in Wayne County, food to take home for the weekend. It is distributed every other Friday during the school year.
Wendi Warren had considered bowing out of the volunteering opportunity because the night they served was her birthday. However, when she thought about it more deeply, she decided it would be a great way to spend her birthday: Serving others. Rowdy and the rest of the group brought her a cupcake and sang “Happy Birthday” to her.
“It is awesome,” Angie Smith said of the time volunteering at the Wooster Hope Center. “They’ve been doing it for a while; it runs very smoothly.”
Bill and Sue Hootman also appreciated the opportunity. “It’s wonderful,” Sue said. “It’s fun serving people. God is good.”
“It can only be good,” Bill said of serving the community. “That’s kind of the whole purpose (of the church), being the hands and feet of Christ.”
The group from Parkview Christian Church were not the only volunteers working that night. A couple from Wooster Grace Church showed up to help, and a bunch of regulars were in the back filling bags with groceries for the clients.
“We must have about 30 churches who regularly send volunteers,” said Pastor Richard Frazier, executive director of Wooster Hope Center. “St. Mary’s Middle School sends volunteers, as does the National Honor Society from the Wayne County Schools Career Center.”
The center has two types of volunteers, what it calls the “volunteer staff,” and the community volunteers. The “staff” are people who volunteer regularly and have a schedule. They are evaluated as if they were workers, but they are unpaid volunteers. The community volunteers are those who stop by and volunteer. They come 30 minutes early for a brief orientation and then hit the floor running.
“We are here every week, and it is amazing how it works out with the volunteers,” Pastor Rich said. “There are some weeks when a regular volunteer might not show up, but there is someone from the community who does. God takes care of us.”
In other news
- The Greater Wayne County Pantry will be closed July 4-6. There will be no food distribution that week. However, the hygiene pantry will open as scheduled on July 2. (The hygiene pantry and free haircuts are now on the first Monday of the month. Read more about it here.)
- The Backpack of Food program will need volunteers on Fridays during the school year. If you are interested, then contact Pastor Rich via email. The info is on the Contact Us page.