Where I Went:
As a family, we just volunteered two weeks ago with St. Matthew Lutheran Church’s food pantry ministry, SCAT (Special Church/Community Action Team). In the past, I’ve tried to space out my volunteer activities, but with SCAT I made a monthly commitment to delivering food to those without transportation once a month.
SCAT’s website describes their mission:
- Deliver 5-7 days worth of nutritious food and basic household items tailored to meet specific dietary needs of low-income residents referred by Care to Share (CTS) or Oregon Food Bank (OFB). Delivery services are intended for those who are elderly, ill, disabled or without transportation.
- Operate “shopping-style” pantries that provide 5-7 days worth of a variety of nutritious food choices as well as basic household items for referred families. Walk-ins are provided a limited amount of emergency food and contact information for CTS. It is our policy that no one leaves our building without food, whether or not they have a referral.
- Provide traditional Christmas food baskets and gifts to economically disadvantaged families in Beaverton and surrounding areas.
First Impressions:
Since we helped out 14 days ago, I didn’t have any pre-conceived nervousness about what to expect. There wasn’t a coordinator on site to lead us this time. We were on our own. The only thing causing me a tad of apprehensiveness was the delivery route.
Two weeks ago, my husband made me promise to take him with us whenever we made a SCAT delivery. Some of the neighborhoods can be questionable. What he forgot to take into account was his unpredictable business trips. He had meetings in Florida on our scheduled volunteer day this month, so our 12 and 9 year old daughters and I handled the job.
The Job:
We three girls entered the food pantry warehouse and walked upstairs into the SCAT office. I pulled the day’s delivery orders from the fax machine. The first item of business required a call to each of the 3 recipients to ensure they’d be home to receive the groceries.
I loved that my girls came to help. Really, I did. But why is it (no matter the age) that when Mom is on the phone (no matter the cause), children choose that exact time to pick on each other? Seriously?!? I gave the death glare twice before I banished them downstairs to the dark food room. That lasted for 15 seconds before they scampered back up the stairs promising to behave.
Once I was off the phone, everyone’s behavior shifted for the better. The girls needed to get busy so they’d stay out of each others (and my) hair. We pulled the boxes already pre-packed with non-perishables, then my youngest started labeling boxes while my oldest headed for the refrigerated room to pack apples and potatoes.
My daughters impressed me with all they remembered from the last time we volunteered with SCAT. They recalled the food allotments for each family size without looking at any cheat-sheet. Our boxes were packed, loaded, and ready for delivery in just 45 minutes.
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| Logging the current temps |
I mapped out the route we’d take and gave my oldest the iPhone so she could navigate. Only I forgot that I’m directionally challenged, so my stops weren’t the most direct. Plus, a 6th grader navigating results in many U-turns. (“Mom, the blue dot isn’t following the blue line anymore.”)
A couple of the apartments we delivered to last month made me uncomfortable. One was borderline scary. I didn’t like that my husband wasn’t with us this time, so I shot up a prayer.
“God, I want to do the right thing and I really want to serve. PLEASE be with us and keep scary people away.”
It took 3 “turn-arounds”, but we finally arrived at our first destination. The First Man spotted us parking and came outside to help unload. First Man was so gracious, so over the top thankful, so sweet, and so kind to the girls – I knew God heard my prayer for safety and answered tenfold.
With tears of gratitude in his eyes, he made me promise to thank St. Matthew Lutheran Church for the work they do.
Dear People of St. Matthew,
You are doing good work. Your time into ministries serving God’s children is well worth the effort.
On the road again, we backtracked to the second apartment. Per his request, I called Second Man to meet us in the complex parking lot. He also helped the girls and I unload the food. And just like the previous delivery, Second Man gushed with appreciation for the groceries that would keep him fed for the next couple of weeks.
“God bless you, God bless your children,” he repeated over and over as we left.
I grew curious as we drove toward our last delivery. This apartment complex wasn’t run down like the other places we’ve visited and the location is in the nicer part of town.
I knocked and a woman opened the door. As I introduced myself, I glanced over her shoulder and saw a stainless steel refrigerator and the granite counter tops. Pretty nice place for this family of three.
“Don’t judge, don’t judge!” I screamed silently in my head.
I went back to the car and told my girls to grab some boxes. As we brought the food upstairs and into the apartment I took a better look at the place. Two lawn chairs served as the seating arrangement by the fireplace. A twin bed dominated the rest of the living room of this very tiny, one bedroom apartment. High school textbooks were scattered on the floor next to the bed. All of a sudden, I wasn’t so judgmental.
At 5:15 we finished our delivery and we were hungry. I decided to take the girls out to eat before we dropped our completed paperwork back at the SCAT building. We parked and walked into the restaurant.
“Mom – is it weird that we just delivered food to people who can’t afford groceries and now we’re going out to eat?” my oldest convicted me.
If I were Supermom and wanted to teach a life long lesson I would have said, “Yes. This feels wrong. Let’s go home and eat food we already have.”
But I didn’t. Instead I told the hostess there were 3 in our party and I paid $10 to eat from the salad bar. Sigh. Next month, I’ll try to have a better plan.
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| Turning in completed paperwork |
How To Help:
If you’d like any information about helping with the SCAT food pantry, please comment on this blog post and I’ll get you the necessary information.
You may not know that even though SCAT is a ministry of St. Matthew Lutheran, the pantry is not a line item on the church’s budget. Grant money and designated donations fund this organization that provides emergency food assistance. If you have the heart to help, but not necessarily the time, consider a financial gift to SCAT. You can help be the answer to someone’s prayer.
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| These tables were a generous donation. |
Related Posts:
SCAT Delivery March – Week 13
I LOVE your blog. I found you from a Fork It Over email mentioning your blog. HOW EXCITING!! FIO is amazing. As I sat up WAY too late last night reading, I completely understood many of your emotions. They are the same struggles I have. I am blessed enough to be an at home mom, and feel strongly about serving. If you want a place to volunteer (esp. since you are already cleared through Bvrtn School Dist), you might consider the BSD Clothes Closet. It gives ANY student attending in the school district free clothing. Please keep up your journey. I will be excited to see where you go. -Candice
Thanks for the feedback, Candice! I'm glad someone can understand my emotions. 🙂 I'm so glad you reminded me about the BSD Clothes Closet. Our girl scout troop helped out last Fall, but I want to help again and write about it for the blog.
Maybe we'll run into each other while serving one of these days!