(HOST) As VPR commentators join a station-wide effort to consider ways we can help each other through hard times, commentator Bill Mares reflects on the small satisfactions of working in a large cause.
(MARES) Ben Runyan volunteers at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf because – he says – "I needed a more socially-responsible way to spend my free time."
Sarah Heim says simply that "Fighting hunger is a shared community responsibility and everyone can play a part."
Mary Ellen Mannock volunteers to be a part of a larger community.
I volunteer because my religion calls me to help distribute the loaves and the fishes.
In my shift, I do whatever I’m told – stack cans of food, clean out produce bins, unload trucks, direct traffic, grind coffee, sweep the floor. I crawl around the shelves like a monkey or I load the dumpster with cardboard. There’s some heavy lifting, but it’s not onerous. I enjoy the people too. I can joke with Mike Farmer, the cook, Kevin Glasglow, the warehouse manager, or his assistant V.J. Brkovic. The center has an international component where, besides English, you can hear Russian, Somali, French, Swahili, Spanish, Vietnamese and Nepalese.
Last week, I chatted briefly with Rob Meehan, the very busy Food Shelf director about some of his efforts to expand the scope and mission of the Food Shelf.
In these darkening economic times when more and more people are asking for help, the food shelf stands at the crossroads of poverty and social services, and reflects trends occuring across the country.
Rob said that "This is a place to distribute food to the needy. But we want to do more to help break the cycle of poverty. Our goal is to cultivate opportunities for people who are part of our community."
Ben Runyan, for example, helped spearhead a community garden in Burlington’s Intervale last summer, so that fresh vegetables could become part of the monthly food allotments.
The Food shelf is also starting a culinary training program which will train prepare clients to be ready for entry level jobs at Sodexho food services at the UVM.
"What else do you need?" I asked.
"Well, we can always use more volunteers," Rob said.
A light went on in my head. What if groups which ask members to donate non-perishable food to the Food Shelf, also ask those members to give an hour of volunteer service?
As a member of the Green Mountain Athletic Association I knew that the running club sponsors an annual Thanksgiving Day race called the Turkey Trot in which they ask entrants to donate food to the Food Shelf. What about tapping them?
So I wrote to the GMAA officers asking for their support. They wrote back almost immediately to say, Yes, they would be happy to place signs and distribute flyers at the Turkey Trot, encouraging people to volunteer at the Food Shelf.
As a means to reduce poverty, it may be small potatoes, but it is something, and even small efforts add up. Besides, as Rob Meehan always says, "It takes more than food to fight hunger."