Volunteers Helping Neighbors At Food Bank

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Moapa Valley residents participating in December’s monthly mobile food pantry pick-up got a great surprise on Saturday morning. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to personally greet every car and share some holiday cheer while drivers waited in line. Then to add to the surprise, every car that drove through to get food received a full Christmas dinner for their families in addition to their regular food supplies.

Local food pantry and distribution organizer Bren McClean explained how the dinners were obtained for local families. A donor had come forward wanting to sponsor turkeys for the families that participate in the monthly event, McClean said. So she called Three Square to determine if this was a viable option and, if so, how to proceed. Three Square informed her that they had enough leftover supplies from Thanksgiving to supply Moapa Valley with 300 turkey dinners for Christmas at no extra cost.

McClean was excited and arranged for delivery and distribution during the regular monthly drive-thru food pantry at the Grant Bowler Elementary School parking lot. To make it more festive, she called upon Santa and Mrs. Claus, who were happy to arrange their busy holiday schedule to make an appearance at the event.

Every month, families in Moapa Valley that are having a hard time making their budgets stretch to cover adequate food are able to pick up healthy fruits, vegetables, and other foods at the food bank event sponsored by Assemblyman James Oscarson and Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas. The food bank is organized and run by McClean, Oscarson’s constituent liaison also his daughter.

Three Square provides a truck full of food for valley residents early in the morning, usually on the third Saturday. Volunteers arrive before dawn to help unload and organize donations so they can be distributed to local families.

The food is free to anyone who comes. Proof of income or need is not required. Those who participate are not even required to leave their cars. Volunteers load supplies in the cars while the drivers drive slowly from station to station to pick up their allotment of that month’s offerings.

Like most months, December’s food bank was popular among valley residents. Although distribution was technically scheduled to begin at 8 am, cars began lining up much earlier than that. The line stretched all the way around the block by opening time.

To accommodate the number of people in line, distribution began as soon as the food was unloaded and organized and volunteers were in place to help. It continued until both the food and the line were gone.

Those picking up food were incredibly surprised and pleased to receive a whole turkey, prepared stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry relish, with Twinkies for dessert. In addition they received cases of water, butternut squash, fingerling potatoes, sweet potato chips, bananas, and assorted other food.

There were plenty of volunteers to speed the unloading and distribution process along. McClean expressed gratitude to all those who showed up to help. “We are really grateful for our volunteers,” she said. “They show up early in the morning and give up hours of their day to help out their community and their neighbors. It’s really the volunteers that make this whole thing possible.”

Santa and Mrs. Claus said they were happy to be at the event. “We’re here today because we love Moapa Valley and we love Christmas and like bringing cheer to everyone,” Santa said.

The couple’s cheer was contagious and even the volunteers loading food were happy to be there and had a great time.
“My favorite thing about coming and volunteering is that I get my family out here to teach them about helping out others,” said volunteer Stacey DuPee. “At the same time, we get to see the amount of help other members of our community give to each other and it’s inspiring.”

Many people picking up food did so for their friends and neighbors in need who had no transportation nor good enough health to do it themselves. Even the volunteers themselves often go the extra mile beyond helping to give out the food to those lined up.
“We come and help out as often as we can because we feel that there’s no better place to be on mornings like this than somewhere we can make a difference and help out our community,” said volunteer Christine Johnson. “After helping distribute food in the mornings, we pick up food for members of our neighborhood who can’t come themselves. After we leave here, we spend about an hour-and-a-half delivering meals to others.”