The Corner Shelf is a hopping place — in August alone, our food shelf served 300-400 households per week! It takes a lot to pull off this operation, and the work is carried out through a rotation of staff members and a dedicated crew of 44 volunteers. Here’s the story of Chris, one of our super volunteers.
I started volunteering at the food shelf about a year after the death of my husband when I was looking for purpose and ways to serve. I facilitate a GriefShare group at Woodland and one of the participants suggested the food shelf opportunity to me. It resonated with me for several reasons. First, Jesus tells us to feed the hungry and to pray for our daily bread. Secondly, I feel called to serve my local community by working to bring heaven to earth. Lastly, one of the great gifts God has given me since my husband died is the gift of time to serve others. I don’t want to squander that gift.
I volunteer three days a week because it gives me an opportunity to experience the whole life cycle of the program. Tuesdays are for receiving the food, stocking the shelves, and bagging potatoes, onions, apples, etc. for about 2-3 hours. Wednesdays and Thursdays are for serving the families. There are folks who work outside directing the cars and doing order intake. I’m inside and am the “keeper of the carts.” I take the incoming orders and get them into the warehouse so that they can be filled. Folks in the warehouse bag the items, then the order is weighed and runners take the orders out to the cars. It takes a village to do this work!
I don’t see the people we serve because I work inside. My job is to pray for an abundance of food, enough volunteers to do the work, and to do my part by seeing the orders get to the warehouse. About 180 to 200 families are served each day that we are open. What an impact this has on our community — people get enough food to last a week and I get the satisfaction of knowing the impact of that work.
I have made many friendships with other volunteers through this work. There is laughter and joy in coming together week after week to serve others. You should come join us! There is always room for more, and it is a great way to meet people at Woodland and become an integral part of the body of Christ.”
Thank you, Chris, for your faithful volunteering and your commitment to feeding our community!
The Corner Shelf is currently in need of a few more volunteers, so if you’d like to pitch in, click here for more information.
