The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
125: Food, Faith, and Finding Hope: A Food Pantry Patron & Volunteer's Story.
This week on the podcast, we are grateful for a volunteer at Hope's Food Pantry who shares her story of finding both food assistance and a newfound family of support. Her story reminds us how HOPE's Food Pantry provides not just groceries but genuine community, hope, and healing to those experiencing difficult life circumstances.
To support Hope's Food Pantry, email foodpantry@meethope.org. Food distribution occurs on the second, fourth, and fifth Wednesdays from 12:15-2:15 PM at the corner of Centennial and Cooper in Voorhees, NJ. Donations can be dropped off 24/7 in the vestibule or made online at meethope.org.
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Hope our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope. Hey everybody, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Dave and it's great to be here with you today. Today I'm looking forward to this conversation because I'm here with a friend of mine. She is a volunteer down at the food pantry. She's also a patron of the food pantry and because of that we want to protect her identity and we are appreciative of her taking the time of her day to come and share, and that I hope you can hear from her heart a little bit about the impact that the food pantry has on people like her and the many other people that we help and the many people that volunteer and serve down there.
Speaker 2:For those of you that don't know, our church has a food pantry that uses the building at the corner of our property. It is a very important ministry here at Hope Church because, as we share with our volunteers down there, that they are the actual hands and feet of Jesus. It is a practical way that we can serve other people and make a difference in our community. So how did you become connected to Hope's Food Pantry? So how did you hear about it? How did you end up coming for the first time?
Speaker 3:about it? How did you end up coming for the first time? I was on my way to have PT and I was looking for food pantries in the area and I figured, on my way home I would stop at the Hope Church or the Hope Food Pantry and see what it was all about, because I had fallen into a horrible situation. I was down, I believe, as far as I possibly could be. I definitely could not see any light at any tunnels. And on my way to the tunnel, on my way to the church and the food pantry, on my return trip, I ran out of gas at the traffic light there, which is an extremely dangerous place to run out of gas, even though there's a traffic light there. So I immediately used my OnStar button and I said help, yeah that I had the police department arrive and they pushed, shoved my car into Hope's pantry. Upon that, two people from God Must Descent or just popped up out of the ground, were there. And are you hurt? What do you need? All the concerns of warm people?
Speaker 2:So you were at the traffic light. I'm guessing at the corner of Cooper and Centennial.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:And you ran out of gas, right? Did you know that the Hope Food Pantry existed prior to that moment of being pushed in?
Speaker 3:No, Did you know that the Hope Food Pantry existed prior to that moment of being pushed in? No, or on my way to the PT class, I may have read the sign in the future, or in the past, I should say, and say isn't that a wonderful thing that there's somebody out there helping people and I go. I got to be one of them now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So I mean that's crazy that you were.
Speaker 3:As far as I'm concerned, it was meant to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I was meant to run out of gas. The church was meant to be there and the people were meant to be there.
Speaker 2:Some people would call that a coincidence. I wouldn't.
Speaker 3:No, I wouldn't either.
Speaker 2:And maybe God had a little bit involved, because here we are today. This is a little over a year ago at this point right.
Speaker 3:About 18 months.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because when I started working down at the food pantry, you had already been well established as a volunteer on Tuesdays at that point, speaking of which, so you were in need of help, so you started coming and receiving food from the food pantry. How did you end up volunteering?
Speaker 3:I came the following week when the two volunteers came to me and asked me what I was doing and whatever. And asked me what I was doing and whatever. And I was so in awe of these people that I said do you have to be a volunteer of the church? And they said absolutely not, you don't even have to go to the church.
Speaker 2:To receive food Right Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay and I said, well, how do I join?
Speaker 2:And the woman said just come and we'll all sign you up.
Speaker 3:So that following week you came to receive food Exactly Exactly, I figured. If this place is helping me, the least I can do is help them.
Speaker 2:So how long had you been coming and receiving food before you started volunteering?
Speaker 3:The one time when I was pushed in.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 3:That's it.
Speaker 2:And then you reached out and said I want to help too.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And from that point you got plugged into one of the teams Correct and got connected from there.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:So what is the whole experience between being somebody that has been helped by the food pantry as well as being somebody that has been serving down there? What has that experience been like for you?
Speaker 3:it's amazing because it has given me hope. I usually work now two days a week. Um, I'll be really very frank. I can't wait until I go back the following Tuesday, because I have people who are becoming my friends, who care about me, and on the reverse side, I'm helping people. And it becomes a little. It's a family.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's absolutely a family. If somebody doesn't see me at a certain time, they're on the phone calling where are you, okay, or doing well checks, Just as a joke, or caring. I was sitting out when we did have a nice day, waiting for it to open officially, and two people appear with sunscreen and I go what are you doing? And they go you're going to get burnt. So that's the kind of place it is. It's caring and no questions asked.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:None at all. You walk through the front door and say I'm here to help, and they say come on, and that's what I like about it.
Speaker 2:And I think your definition, your way of describing it as a family, really is true, your way of describing it as a family really is true and I've shared. For those of you that have been listening to the podcast for a while, I shared back in. I want to say the podcast, aired sometime in the fall of 2024, was talking about how each of the teams that serve down there at the food pantry, they kind of have their own personality, each of the teams and, um, but all of the teams kind of they've they've formed this family relationship and they all look different and they are all probably just as weird and dysfunctional as most families are. Um, but the reality is. But the reality is it's more than just coming and giving two hours of your time. It's the conversations you have, the time you spend with the people, the oh, you were just on vacation. Show us pictures, what was it like? Oh, give us an update on your son or your daughter, what's been going on in your life. So it's more than just serving.
Speaker 3:I was in a position where my friends and family had I'll use the word deserted me. Okay, there was no forgiveness in their heart for what I had done and I believe until this day there isn't complete forgiveness or understanding. But yet, when I walk into the food bank, somebody will say to me well, did you go to the doctors? What was the report? And in return I'll say did your daughter get into med school?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, and these new people I met, building new friendships, that what I consider are true friendships.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, I think that's a great way to describe it. You had said earlier that and I forget how you specifically worded it, but you said something along the lines of that you've received more than just food, that you've received hope. Can you tell?
Speaker 3:me a little bit more about what you mean by that?
Speaker 3:Hope is the name of your church or the place that gave me hope. I was displaced from where I was living. I was displaced from the people that were my everyday lives for a good amount of years. Basically, I didn't know where to turn. And then I walked in and these people not only became hope, didn't prejudge me when we got talking as friends and said I don't know that what I had done was not terrible and it was certainly reversible with love and care. And that's what I got from these people that I was a person. I wasn't a piece of not to exaggerate dirt. Do you know what I mean and how at my age could I have ever considered that they understood where I was coming from and they pulled me out of that dark surrounding hole pretty quickly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, surrounding hole pretty quickly, yeah, and I'll never, never forget them or show them enough appreciation and do enough for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I think I think it was last week you had mentioned we had a. I would say it was probably one of our deepest conversations we've had down there on one of the Tuesdays that we've served together, and we were talking about family and life and history, like you know, kind of where we all are, and a number of us had shared some personal stories and, um, you know, it's easy for us to think that everybody around us, their family life, is perfect, right, and I remember at the end you saying something like I really enjoyed our conversation today because it helped me understand that I'm not alone in all this. And, um, like you know, we all have stories from our past and from our childhood and uh, and some from adulthood and and things like that. So it's, um, I'm, I'm. I was really encouraged when you said that, said it like that, you know I, you know these people are just like me. You know these people are just like me, I'm not alone in this, and I think that's a good message for people to know.
Speaker 3:That's true, it is, but until you find a friend or that association to give you the help and support. Now I'm not saying that some people don't need professional help okay, but I think besides professional help, you need a friend or an associate, because that professional is not your friend. That professional is not your friend, he's an expert or somebody who's medically trying to put you in the right direction.
Speaker 3:But when you meet a new person who knows nothing about you but your name, and you start sharing stories and people cry with you or people laugh with you, you don't think you're that bad and that you can become the person you were before this incident happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think, as we read through scripture, you know, one of the things we can understand from diving deep into scripture is that we're created for community, we're created to not walk through this life by ourself, that we need other people, we need relationships and friendships and people to walk alongside of us. So I'm glad that you found that with your weird group of family members that you serve with every Tuesday and Wednesday. Let me ask you this one last question what do you wish more people knew about the food pantry?
Speaker 3:That in their vocabulary is not the word no. If you're the first person in line or you're the last person in line, you will receive food. If we have to put together special bags for you to go home with that contains sweet stuff, salt, salty stuff, a protein, we will put it together for you and it will last you until the next opening. Until the next opening, and then you just drive up again, hand them your card and they'll start all over again. They don't judge you if you're in a Rolls Royce or a Jalopy, but it means that you need help and you found the Hope Food Pantry.
Speaker 2:Well, it's interesting you mention that, because I hear people often say look at that person in that car waiting in line at the food pantry, they don't need help. That's too nice of a car.
Speaker 3:That's the perfect example of the don't judge a book by the cover scenario exactly.
Speaker 2:I mean um, you don't know what that person's maybe they took their neighbor's car.
Speaker 3:Maybe they have their sister's car. Um, there could be many reasons um how they got to the pantry.
Speaker 2:And we try to do what we can right. We try to help as many people as we can, in any ways that we can. I wish we could help everyone, but the reality is we are doing a small part in a much greater need throughout the country. We are partnered with the South Jersey Food Bank, as some of our listeners already know, and they serve many counties here in South Jersey, and we are just one of the many agencies that partner with them to make a much larger impact in this corner of our country and in this corner of our world. Well, thank you so much for coming and sharing a little bit about your story and opening your heart to us.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. It was my pleasure, attached to the pantry and the people that I'm meeting little by little from the church, and it's a beautiful experience and I wish more people would come and share with us Great Well.
Speaker 2:For those that don't know, our pantry offers more than just food. It provides connection and renewal, as you heard here today. If anyone is listening and is interested in supporting, donating, volunteering, sharing, feel free to reach out to me, to us at foodpantryatmeathopeorg. That email will be in our show notes. If you are listening and you need help, know that the food pantry is open. We distribute food on the second, fourth and fifth Wednesdays of the month and if you need food, just come anytime between 1215 and 215, and we're happy to help.
Speaker 2:The food pantry is located at the corner of Centennial and Cooper in Voorhees, new Jersey, and if you're looking to donate food, the vestibule is open 24 hours a day for you to drop off food or anything that you'd like to drop off to help out. If you'd like to donate money, you can donate to the food pantry at meethopeorg and if you're looking to volunteer or if you just need more information, as I mentioned, please feel free to email us at foodpantry at meethopeorg. There will be plenty of details in the show notes if you are looking for any other information and to our listeners. Thank you for listening to the Meet Hope podcast. Be sure to subscribe so that you never miss a new podcast from Hope, and share this episode with a friend. Make sure to check back every Monday for a new episode. Until then, have a great day.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.