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'Just feed them': Late pastor's memorial funds expansion of community pantry
"Just feed them," the late Rev. Hilary Vieck told workers at the Linton Community Food Pantry when they wondered how to determine who needed help.
And so, they did.
Now, 14 months after St. Peter's Catholic Church and the Saron United Church of Christ initially merged their efforts, and just under a year after the First Christian Church and the First United Methodist Church joined the effort, an expansion on the building has begun.
As the going gets tough, the four-church coalition got building Saturday, expanding to accommodate the growing number of local needy. The pantry sits on the north parking lot of St. Peter's, 489 E St. NE.
Between 150 and 200 families, mostly from Linton, come to the pantry every month, where each is given a bag of food, said pantry treasurer Martha Roach. In March, 152 families -- 533 people facing tough times -- benefited from 300 bags of food.
"That's a family coming once a month," Rev. Mike Roth of the Saron Church said. "We are serving more people and more families together than we ever were separate."
How need is determined is simple, and follows Vieck's suggestion.
"They come in and give us their name," Roach said. "We don't question them. Most we know, or we can tell are low-income. They can come only once a month. They have to sign up and have an ID the first time."
Much of the demand comes from Linton, though the pantry serves the entire county.
About 2,500 families have been served altogether in the pantry's 14 months of operation. The need is growing, organizers said.
"Last year, in 2008, the whole year, we served 1,241 families, 4,023 people," Roach said. "So far this year, in the first quarter, we served 390 families about 1,384 people."
Presently, the pantry is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. There are no immediate plans to expand operating hours.
St. Peter's property commission member Scott McBride, who aided in construction, recalled his amazement at the number of local folks in need.
"They were already lined up on the morning before it even opened," McBride said. "It's a sign of the times, and the economy."
Work by the crews, mostly on Saturdays, is expected to take around one to two months adding 32 feet to a center that's already a 60-foot-long facility, McBride said.
Thus far, a frame has been erected. Problems with buttresses which were the wrong size kept the work from proceeding as far as planned Saturday, organizers said, but they remain proud of the work done thus far.
When completed, the food pantry will be shifted to the south side of the redone building, where the expansion occurred. A sorting table for clothes in the middle, and the thrift store which also supplies clothes free for the needy and those struck by fires will be located in the north section.
That store presently brings in between $300 and $400 per month, Roach said, money used toward covering supplies for the food pantry.
The food is purchased locally from Angell's Food Center, Wal-Mart and Sav-A-Lot, she added. The stores offer discounts toward the effort.
Even so, the center always needs more canned fruit, vegetables, peanut butter, soups and macaroni and cheese, as well as other non-perishables. Donors can bring goods to the pantry during regular operating hours, or take them to participating churches.
Donors who seek to drop off clothes or donations shouldn't, however, leave them outside the pantry when it's closed, Roth said, as bad weather can ruin them.
Instead, organizers suggest those feeling charitable drop off clothing in the two pull-through drives of Linton's First Christian Church on State Road 54 East at any time, day or night.
Fixtures and racks from the now-closed Goody's store were acquired for the expanded center. The revamped pantry will now have an open floor plan.
Members emphasize that the cross-denominational effort, which could potentially add two more churches this year, is beyond being about one church. Rather, it's about Christians working together to better the community.
"All the churches were working together, and it couldn't have gone better," said Tim Hale, chairman of the First Christian Church council and a volunteer.
A crew of about 16 volunteers got under way Saturday, with four members from each church putting up the framework. They were led by Harry Huber, an experienced hand at building homes as president of Greene County Habitat for Humanity, and Paul Aydt, a carpenter employed by Indiana University.
"You couldn't tell who belonged to what church, if you were just a stranger walking up on the work. It was just a great morning to be in ministry together," said Rev. Roth.
"If you truly want to create a community outreach, things have to be as neutral as possible."
Roth's opening devotion touched upon how people usually dislike their driver's license photos, but added "It's un-doctored, but the reality is it's a snapshot of who you are at that moment in time."
He then added that, when competition between congregations -- rather than cooperation -- occurs, one might wonder "would God recognize it as a snapshot of Christianity."
The snapshot taken Saturday, however, was an entirely different matter.
"We were working together, building a piece of the kingdom on earth."
When the work's done, probably by early summer, a small plaque inside will honor Vieck, the former pastor of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Linton and Holy Name in Bloomfield.
The pantry won't be renamed after him. The 79-year-old priest, who died of leukemia in November, expressly didn't want that.
"He was very clear before he died he did not want that. It will remain the Linton Community Food Pantry, Roth said.
However, memorials given in his name have funded the expansion work entirely, coupled with donated work, said Roth.
"When you give to the community food pantry, you're not financing any overhead," Roth said. "We are able take care of our own utilities and light bill. When you give, 100 percent will be going to feed those in need -- exactly what you're giving for."
That, Roth said, might honor Vieck's memory best.
"I think he'd be very pleased with what we are doing," Roth said. "He was a great human being."
The community food pantry can be reached at 847-9195.