By Marci McPhee, Just Serve Specialist, San Antonio East Stake
An astonishing amount of food – more than 4,763 pounds, or almost 2½ tons of food – was collected by the San Antonio East Stake for our partner, Catholic Charities, on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Catholic Charities feeds thousands of people through various programs, including the monthly visit of the mobile food pantry to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Buena Vista building). Although many Latter-day Saints are struggling to make ends meet, their generosity in responding to the needs of the community was incredible.
Lizzy Perales, Tracy Ladgenski, Brenda Beltran and Eduardo Rocha of Catholic Charities (CC) said, “Thank you friends! The amount of food we received is a major blessing. We are so blessed by your generosity!!” Antonio Fernandez, CEO of CC, soberly remarked, “Coronavirus has been very tough on all of us. The pressure to serve, protect clients and ourselves, fundraise, and be creative to provide for more and more who seek assistance is taking a toll on all of us. Despite the ongoing matters of this pandemic, we will continuously focus on serving all with love, respect, and dignity. We will do what needs to be done to ensure that we have enough food for those who come to us vulnerable, hungry and in crisis.”
Called “Adopt-a-Family,” this East Stake food drive was an opportunity to build a kit for a family, with a balanced assortment of nonperishable items for a few nutritious meals. Also collected were other foods and much-needed diapers and homemade face masks. Some Primary children made encouraging cards to put in some of the family boxes. Kathryn Abercrombie of the Eden Ward said, “I was grateful for those that quietly contributed and helped out numerous individuals in the process.”
Karen Frost of the Windcrest Ward counted “57 complete boxes and 7 partial boxes (enough to feed roughly 250 people a meal – pretty close to our ward population).” She continued, “The morning after my first email went out, the donations started arriving at my house, until I could hardly walk through my house. The simple truth is that we are stewards of all the Lord has given us and not owners. Each little part to lighten the load of others and to share what we have becomes so much more, with the pure love of Christ as the focus and motivation. As we dropped these items off at Catholic Charities, I reflected on the great joy at being able to help and bless the lives of others.”
President of the San Antonio East Stake, James Mears added, “It’s exciting to serve and help others. Lots of folks will be fed in more than one way. Alma chapter 5 speaks of a mighty change of heart, and asks if we have received Jesus’ image in our countenance? Alma is referring to acts of Christlike love and service. That’s exactly what I saw in those giving through this project.”
Much to our astonishment, one of the headlines for that week in Come Follow Me, the church-wide home-centered scripture study manual, is “I can be a positive influence in my community,” with this text: “There are likely many important issues facing your community….Are there … ways you can be a positive influence in your community?” (Come Follow Me 2020, page 83). When planning this food drive, we had no idea that this correlated with the church-wide theme that particular week – but God did.
Many thanks to all who contributed, especially the ward representatives who coordinated efforts in each ward: Buena Vista Ward – Esmerelda Guzman, Eden Ward – Kathryn Abercrombie, High Country Ward – Pierrette Partridge, Mission Creek Ward – Lucy Hardy, Pleasanton Ward – Jodi Panter, Windcrest Ward – Karen Frost, 10th Ward – Maggie Guerra
