Volunteers arrive early on a recent Friday to fill row upon row of brown paper bags —125 bags in all — with rice, beans, powdered milk, dried noodles, cans of vegetables and fruit, and loaves of bread.
Thanks to a backyard donation to Naples Harvest from a Naples family, the volunteers will add 100 pounds of oranges and grapefruit to the bags at the Grace Place food pantry in the heart of Golden Gate city.
A donation of 275 pounds of tomatoes from an area farmer to the Harry Chapin food bank and a gift of 150 pounds of zucchini, apples and bananas donated by Food & Thought organic market though Naples Harvest round out the fresh fruit and vegetable offerings.
By late afternoon, more than 100 families will pick up bags of food at Grace Place. The emergency food aid is a Godsend to Golden Gate families struggling to make ends meet.
More and more, the families who come to Grace Place report that they’ve lost jobs and have no income coming in, says program assistant Mary Williams. The food pantry is averaging about 15 new families a week and Grace Place has seen an explosion in need since it opened the pantry just over a year ago in February 2008.
Louis Morales and his wife Adelaida Ramirez-Sanchez are among the families who came recently for food for their family of 8. They have six children ages 11, 9, 7, 5 and twins 19 months old. Louis, who is an electrician and operator of heavy machinery, has been looking for work for a couple of months now.
The bags of food help the family a lot, says Adelaida. “Every little bit helps,” she says in Spanish through a translator.
A long line forms before the pantry opens at 1 p.m. and there’s typically a second rush after school lets out at 3 p.m.
“We’re just amazed,” says Sonny Van Arsdale, one of the two dozen volunteers who work in shifts throughout the day on Fridays at Grace Place. “Some of the women will walk a mile to get here with baby strollers.”
Van Arsdale and his wife have been volunteering at Grace Place since October.
“We like to see the kids. They’re just such cute kids,” he says.
Donations to the pantry come from churches and Boy Scout food drives and from collecting organizations like Harry Chapin, Collier Harvest, Kids Against Hunger and Naples Harvest.
Grace Place saw a need in the surrounding community for the food pantry.
“We just jumped in on a wing and a prayer,” says Esther Duncan, a volunteer who helped launch the pantry. “Our families are so grateful.”
Maria Porras, Olga Jimenez and Concepcion Onore are one such family. Including children they have 7 in their household with kids ages 14, 11, 8 and 6.
The women work cleaning windows. “There are jobs but they don’t give you enough hours,” Maria says.
“It’s very important, this place,” Maria says. Concepcion takes English classes at Grace Place because if you don’t know English, it’s tougher to find jobs, she says.
What would the women do if they weren’t able to get help from the food pantry?
“Pues …,” Maria says, which translates to “well …” in Spanish. She shrugs. She doesn’t have an answer.
