Men’s Christian Fellowship at the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance.
Larry Gleason
On August 6 eight men from PebbleCreek’s Men’s Christian Fellowship traveled to Surprise to spend the morning volunteering at the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. The Fellowship group was divided into two teams. The first team worked on the inspection line where all incoming donated food (cans, jars, bags, etc.) is checked for damage, expiration dates, etc. The second team took the approved items from the inspection line and placed them into approximately twenty different bins (canned fruit, canned vegetables, pasta, etc.). Along with other volunteers, the Fellowship accomplished much during the three hours at the Food Bank. Of note, the Food Bank has a training program for inmates from the Arizona Department of Corrections who are close to completing their sentences. The program provides basic skills to help them reenter the workforce upon their release. The inmates working that day were very helpful in assisting the Fellowship members with their assigned tasks. At the end of the morning the Fellowship members agreed this was a very rewarding effort.
The St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance is a non-sectarian, nonprofit organization. While not affiliated with the Catholic Church, the name St. Mary’s honors a Catholic church that donated to the Food Bank its first building. It is now a large operation that provides food to many other food banks across Arizona. A major Food Bank program is the Kid’s Café. Working with more than 60 schools, churches and community centers this program provides over 3000 nutritious meals each day to needy children in after school and summer programs. The Food Bank leadership estimates it would take 150 additional employees to replace their volunteers and volunteers are always needed.
The Men’s Christian Fellowship will resume their monthly meetings in October. All PebbleCreek men are invited to attend. Information on the time/date of the meetings will be posted on bulletin boards along with emails sent to the membership and the PebbleCreek eGroup.