Pantry week Wednesdays, 8:00 am–9:30 am is our delivery of food from Gleaners Food Bank. We receive around 1300+ lbs of food that is transported to Central by 2 volunteers. When they arrive at church (usually 8:00 am), there is a group of 6-10 people ready to unload their vehicles. We use carts or flatbeds to take items down the elevator (or walk the stairs if you prefer!). All items are then distributed to the appropriate storage area: in the pantry, freezer or refrigerator units.

We also have a team mixing laundry jugs which are distributed at pantry day (hence the empty water jugs we have collected!). There are several chores we do to prepare the pantry for distribution day — the more hands the better.

We are a super friendly group and welcome any newcomers wanting to make a difference!

Every Thursday, approximately 1:00-3:30. On this day we have a team of 2 that meets at church to assess available food storage space. At 1:30 the team arrives at the Second Helpings warehouse on Maryland Avenue, joining several other nonprofits. At this appointed time, we are able to go through several pallets of food available for redistribution. Produce, bakery items, frozen meats, canned goods - one never knows what you will find! All this food is FREE.

We load 1-2 flatbeds with items appropriate for our pantry, get our haul weighed (typically we get 250-500 lbs weekly!), pack our vehicles and return to the church. We then unload all items down to the pantry and lower auditorium, again using elevator or stairs. Having 1-2 extra people to meet team at church around 2:15 to assist in unloading and processing items would be very helpful - especially when there is a larger load. At present we have 6 people (2 per week) who share this responsibility, alternating weeks. Additional volunteers are welcome to help with the Second Helpings run or the unloading job at 2:15.