Shoppers make choices at Oxford Ecumenical Food Shelf

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

OXFORD – Shoppers pushed carts, choosing groceries.
Children picked out backpacks.
A recipient of sleeping bags, who is homeless, helped put away chairs.
It was a typical night at the Oxford Ecumenical Food Shelf.
Every Thursday, except on holidays, people can come from 5-7:15 p.m. to shop – for free – or volunteer. The only criteria for shopping is that the family must need food, and live in Oxford or be a member of a church in Oxford.
Volunteer Theodore Cioppa, of First Congregational Church, said he’s reimbursed for working there.
“I get paid in smiles,” he said. “It’s better than any paycheck anyone could ever get.”
His is one of the churches that belongs to the Oxford Ecumenical Council which operates a food pantry in the Oxford Community Center at 4 Maple Road.
The others are the town’s Catholic parishes, St. Ann and St. Roch, and Oxford First Baptist, Grace Episcopal, United Methodist, Zion Lutheran and Oak Hill Bible Church.
They take turns staffing the food pantry for a month, said John Kneeland Jr., chairman of the Ecumenical Council and the Food Shelf, and a member of St. Ann’s.
August was St. Roch’s month and on Aug. 15 Father Michael J. Roy, the pastor, was there with parishioners. Members of other churches helped too.
Mr. Kneeland said there are about 17 volunteers per week, about 200 total.
Last year the food pantry served 271 individual families, the year before 350 were helped, he said.
“The reason for the drop – the families are telling me that they’re getting jobs,” he said. “I have a relationship that I can call them” when they don’t come.
Others also rejoiced in relationships formed.
“I just feel like this makes us such a part of the community,” said Christina St. Martin of First Congregational, vice chairwoman of the Ecumenical Council and Food Shelf.
“We get to know their (shoppers) special needs,” she said. “We get to know which people are diabetic … gluten-free. I shop for those (items) separately.”
And when vegetables from the Community Share Garden on her church’s front lawn are brought in, she provides recipes for the produce.
The volunteers are appreciated.
“They’re very generous and kind,” a shopper named Kim said. “It’s like a family. They make you feel so welcome. You get to know them and they get to know us.”
Kim pays it forward, you might say.
“I donate my time doing other things,” she said. “I don’t have money, but I give my time.”
“They didn’t make me feel bad at all,” a shopper named Jessica said. “They’ve always been so nice to my children. … They have been so great and I’m so appreciative. They’re almost like family.”
She said she’d lived in other towns where she sought help, and sometimes the people were not very friendly.
“My son loves to come here; he gets pizza,” she said. She and her 4-year-old enjoy the free supper served while they wait to shop. She said they’ve been coming for three years; her husband lost his job and was having trouble finding another.
The food pantry gave her children backpacks for school and wrapped Christmas gifts, and provides food for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter as well as monthly, or weekly if needed, she said.
“You get to pick what you know your family will eat,” she said. “It’s almost like shopping.”
Before the shopping Aug. 15, volunteers gathered, and one prayed, thanking God that they have food to share.
Then they took their places, showing shoppers their options. Numbers on the shelves told how many of which items families could take.
Overhearing a shopper’s response to an offer, Mr. Kneeland said, “When she’s saying she doesn’t need it, that’s what saves us.” Food one person won’t use can be given to another.
Madeleine Johnson, 14, of Oak Hill Bible Church, said she’s been volunteering for three or four years, and that “it feels good to help people.”
“And it’s fun too,” added her mother, Claire Johnson.
In another room Cassidy Deso, 11, and her brother Austin, 13, were choosing backpacks for themselves and their siblings.  “There’s so much bags to choose from,” she marveled.
“I’m happy to get the backpack,” Cassidy said. “It’s nice. And (it’s) hard to find a backpack that you want. I thank John for letting us pick.” She appreciated the school supplies too.
Their grandmother Doreen Shays, 62, said the backpacks are “helpful big time.” She said she was raising eight grandchildren and six still live with her.
Michelle Britton, of St. Ann’s St. Vincent de Paul Society, said the society bought a number of backpacks and parishioners brought more, for a total of 73 backpacks from the parish. The other churches donated some too.
About 60 percent of the food and money to buy it comes from churches and other organizations, Mr. Kneeland said. Arrangements with stores enable him to buy in bulk at sale prices.
He gets the other 40 percent of the food from the Worcester County Food Bank.
“We picked up one ton of food today and it cost me $5.85,” he said. That’s because he pays only a handling fee to the food bank.
On Aug. 15 Mr. Kneeland seemed moved by meeting couples who said they are homeless.
“If they didn’t open the door, where would people be that are starving?” asked a woman named Debbie.
“There should be more places like this to help people,” said Fred, who was with her and said he used to attend Our Lady of the Angels Church in Worcester. “Every church – they all come together here and they donate. That’s the way it should be.”
The two said they’d been sleeping in a tent behind Zion Lutheran Church, which helped them address their needs.
Jonathan and Danielle Rollins said they were there for the first time; they’re living in their car and learned about the pantry from Fred and Debbie.
“We’re going to try St. Ann’s” for Mass, Mr. Rollins said.
“We haven’t had a church,” said his wife. “People look down on you when you’re homeless.”
Brenda Landry, now a member of St. Joseph Parish in Charlton, said when Father Richard F. Reidy served at St. Ann’s several years ago he talked her into helping with the food shelf.
“It’s not my cup of tea,” she said at the time. But she came, loved it and never left.
The shoppers are “so appreciative,” she said. “Sometimes they’re in tears. Sometimes they come back and help us.”