Volunteering gave me the opportunity to change people's lives, including my own. It gives you the satisfaction of playing a role in someone else's life by helping people who may not be able to help themselves. In this paper I will explain what St. Philips' food pantry is all about, where it is located, what they do, who they serve, how they're funded, and how they benefit the community. .
Our community pantry is a result of a collaborative partnership between the North Texas Food Bank and St. Philip's School and Community Center, which neighbors the pantry and owns the property. According to the city of Dallas, the poverty level in District 7, which includes the food pantry, has increased 13 percent from 2000 to 2012. It had been a want of the school and community center's for about 12 years. The city of Dallas helped St. Philip's secure an abandoned liquor store next to the school and community center. Nonprofit In the City for Good developed a plan and organized resources to renovate the building into a pantry. It sits on a corner lot in a South Dallas food desert. In a neighborhood of homes with barred windows, a steel fence surrounds the brick building. Once a liquor store, the building is now Our Community Pantry, a food haven along Pennsylvania Avenue for three neighborhood ZIP codes.
The St. Philip's food pantry gives food to homeless or low income families every 3 weeks on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Clients can visit one time each day and must set up a 15-minute appointment to shop for food alongside a volunteer. Four families can shop at a time. Only two food bank employees are staffed at the pantry. The rest of the work - unloading food, stocking, shopping and signing in clients - is done by volunteers. The pantry gives away fresh vegetables, meals in a can (stew, chili, and soup), tuna and canned meat, peanut butter, cereals, 100% fruit juices, and canned vegetables. They also distribute dairy products, fresh meats, and other refrigerated and frozen products.