Crowd of volunteers helps stock food pantries

SARASOTA – It wasn’t even 1 p.m., the scheduled start time, and Terri McCoy was busy sorting food.

Volunteers working at long tables sorted food into boxes labeled for meat, soup, dessert and more.

”There seems to be a great deal of food coming in,“ she said. ”Look at that truck. It seems to be completely full.“

She and about 100 other people assembled outside the Sarasota County Fairgrounds on Friday to volunteer in the Mayors’ Feed the Hungry program, a volunteer coalition of charitable organizations working to meet the needs of those suffering from the economic downturn.

They were supposed to work from 1 to 5 p.m., but by 12:30 p.m. several vehicles loaded with collection boxes had arrived and had been unloaded. From Priuses to pickup trucks, and up to larger trucks, they disgorged boxes that had been set up around Sarasota and Manatee counties, in schools and churches and anywhere where people congregated.

The boxes were opened and their contents placed on tables, where other volunteers like McCoy picked up items and put them in boxes marked meat, soup, baby food, veggies and more. Those boxes were then sealed and staged by type for later pickup by food distribution agencies, who would then give them to the needy.

Mike Powell, left, and Michael Bird worked to unload a truck full of donation boxes.

Meanwhile, other volunteers collected the empty boxes or trained new arrivals coming to help out.

Michael Bird and Mike Powell worked together, with Powell moving boxes to the end of a truck and Bird taking them off the truck and staging them where volunteers would unload them and put their contents on the tables.

Nearby, a group of men worked to figure out how to unload 280 frozen and packaged turkeys from one large truck to two smaller trucks. And more trucks arrived with boxes from schools. Some of the trucks were donated by their owners to transport the food to be sorted, then went out to pick up another load.

McCoy and her co-workers with Universal North American, an insurance company, wore identical T-shirts and worked together. It’s a good feeling to do the work and help those who are less fortunate, she said.

Tiffany Robinson worked hard to get things done quickly and efficiently.

Scott Biehler, vice chairman of the program, said as he checked in volunteers and watched the operation that things are pretty tough this year and donations of food and cash have fallen.

”People don’t have as much extra money, and they need the money to take care of their own families, so a lot of the people that donated last year might be people that are asking for food this year,“ he said. ”We always are happy to accept monetary donations, and we use the money that’s turned in to buy gift cards in $10 amounts,“ he said.

He said that last year they collected 40 tons of food, but he expected between 30 and 40 tons this year despite the greater need. Joel Swallow, the chairman, was more optimistic and believed that they’d hit the 40-ton mark.

Swallow said that in addition to food donations, people could give money to buy $10 food cards at Publix that would be distributed to families, with a maximum of four to a family. These could be used to buy food but not cigarettes, alcohol or lottery tickets, he said.

Biehler said that while they had $130,000 worth of requests for the food cards, they’d only raised about $80,000 in donations. ”If we have any donations come in, we’ll use that to make up the deficit,“ he said.

Standing next to a truck being unloaded, Stewart Hills of Sarasota said he was counting his blessings. Retired from police work and business, he said he’s seen what the current tough times are doing to people, and was doing what he could to help.

Stewart Hills helped organize the unloading of a U-Haul truck full of boxes.

”Oh yeah, no doubt about that,“ Hills said of the need this year. ”We know we can help people. I’m glad to do it.“

It needs to happen more often, he added. ”I would like to see it happen even without the holidays because a lot of people have needs, and we have to recognize that,“ he said. ”I think it’s needed anytime we need to get together and do it,“ not just at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Peter Tortolano of the Knights of Columbus at St. Jude’s Church in Bradenton, was busy taking food from boxes and putting them on the tables for sorting.

”It’s our church. We run a food pantry, and we’re here to help distribute the food so we can stock our food pantry and help some people out there,“ he said. ”It’s very hectic, but we’re getting there.“

Tiffany Robinson of Bradenton’s Harvest Tabernacle was busy filling her arms with products to put in the boxes.

”My church is actually doing a Thanksgiving drive,“ she said. ”I just thought I’d come out here and help, be a part. We got out here early to put the names on the boxes. It’s actually fun, even though it’s kind of hot.“

Water was available for the volunteers, and a barbecue lunch was prepared for people after the hot work of unloading and packing boxes.

Watching his friends unload a truck, Hills said people are still proud and maybe don’t want others to know that they’re having financial problems.

”People don’t want to talk about how they’re in need,“ Hills said. ”A lot of people don’t want to mention about how they’re in trouble. It’s something that we need to address.“

Terri McCoy said it gave her a good feeling to be helping the less fortunate.

Joel Swallow, the chairman of the program, said he was optimistic they’d reach the goal of 40 tons of food. He said programs like this are more needed now than ever.

”I saw an article in USA Today that said one in six Americans is hungry or at risk of being hungry,“ he said. ”That means they miss one meal.“

An economic recovery and the return of good-paying jobs would solve a lot people’s problems with food, he said. Until then, nonprofits have to find a way to fill in the gaps.

”The public, which is very generous – here, especially in Sarasota and Manatee county, they have always come through for us, we expect them to do it again,“ Swallow said.