After over a decade of service, our food pantry is in danger of being shut down. Our funding from ’s Second Harvest is running out and unfortunately, will not be renewed. Although we have capacity to serve groceries to 450-600 people per week, we can no longer pay stipends to our volunteers. These volunteers come every Wednesday morning to help bring in food deliveries from City Harvest, Driscoll and The Food Bank for NYC. The grant money we had received in the past enabled us to pay our 8 to 10 volunteers $30 a day, for four hours worth of work, totaling $13,800 annually. The ability to offer compensation for hard work has resulted in a stable and committed volunteer force.

            As with all of our programs, the purpose is never just to serve our guests. We want to demonstrate the Father’s heart to everyone who comes through our doors, including volunteers. As a result, many of our guests have chosen to volunteer their time to “pay it forward.” Our volunteers are 8-10 men from the neighborhood, some of them homeless. Beyond the important food deliveries and assembly of pantry bags, there is another significant benefit to providing stipends.  The men we work with each week are supervised and mentored by a pastor.  Consequently, through individual attention, encouragement and optional prayer, they are becoming stabilized, focused on recovery and are willing to make plans for the future.  We are pleased to say that we’ve “lost” a few men already for various healthy reasons – some were reunited with family, some obtained services (with our help) for housing, mental health assistance, food stamps, etc., and have moved on.

           For example, Joe* requested that we save his weekly stipend for him so that he would enough money to pay a month’s rent for an Single Room Occupancy (SRO). He was able to get out of the shelter and is now living on his own. He still works with us. He has been reconciled with his mother and has regained the respect of his family. Or take John* – he is learning to manage his money. For the first time he has been able to save his money and buy things he wants, like a cell phone making it much easier to connected. He has been getting job offers and is climbing his way out of poverty. Another volunteer, Tom* has become a reliable worker. He also comes to volunteer at our Soup Kitchen/Food Pantry on Saturdays. Robert* was able to get his own apartment and has since reconciled with his daughter. Finally, after working with us, Alex* got a job with the City of New York as a custodian at a public school. These are just a few of the men whose lives have been changed as a result of volunteering at the food pantry.

            So where do we go from here? We’ve been grateful to have the support of local churches that have committed to supporting this program. One of those donations will enable us to remain operational for the next few months. If you would like to donate your money, time or expertise, please go to our website http://www.fathersheartnyc.org/donate.php or through http://www.nycharities.org/.