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January 13, 2022BY CHRISTINA GALEONE
CFP CORRESPONDENT
One person is capable of doing something wonderful to share the eternal love of Jesus with someone in need. Two people can do even more. But when an organization dedicated to living Gospel values invites the whole community to celebrate Christmas by sharing Christ’s love with local people living in poverty, hope can shine as bright as candles on Christmas Eve.
This Christmas season, that’s what happened in Fitchburg. The food pantry run by the St. Vincent de Paul Society conference at St. Joseph Church united with the church’s Knights of Columbus chapter, students from St. Bernard High School and St. Bernard Elementary School, parishioners at St. Joseph’s and at St. Bernard Parish at St. Camillus de Lellis Church, the Worcester County Food Bank, and Up with Books, a small local nonprofit. The effortbrought comfort and joy to about 200 families.
Throughout the year, with the help of donations and partnerships, the food pantry serves approximately 600 people each month. It offers curbside pick-up every Friday and deliveries to elderly and home-bound clients every Saturday. In addition to food and personal care items, it will provide COVID-19 at-home test kits, while supplies last. It also provides new books to all the children it serves.
Roger Boisvert, the president of St. Joseph’s SVdP Society conference, has been part of the food pantry’s 50-person volunteer team for about 12 years. He considers partnering with Up with Books as an anti-poverty measure, since poor reading skills decrease the chance a student will graduate from high school.
“Without a minimum of a high school degree, they aren’t going to thrive,” Mr. Boisvert said. “Every month, we deliver three to five new books to the children in the families we deliver to, just to keep them reading,” he said.
But this past Christmas the food pantry wanted to do even more. They delivered 200 holiday baskets, which included chicken or turkey and all the fixings. The Knights of Columbus chapter collected new winter coats for the children. And the students added to that warmth with new hats and mittens. The students also raised enough money to fill 20 food baskets.
The food pantry’s volunteers worked with the community to brighten the holidays for so many people, and Mr. Boisvert couldn’t have been happier with the results. The relationships established between volunteers and the people they serve are as important as the food that’s given, he said.
Two children, who have been living with their grandmother, recently sent “Thank You” notes to the food pantry. Mr. Boisvert said that the boy expressed thanks for everything, particularly the food and the books. The girl, he said, wrote, “I pray you have a wonderful holiday. I love to read. Thank you for the books.” He was moved by both cards. “When you get cards like that, it makes a difference,” he said.
“So many people out there are trying to do things to help the poor,” he said. “If you can partner up with people, it makes serving them much easier, and you provide much more of a service to folks.”
