Volunteer Prayer

Dear Father in heaven, in the days and years remaining to me in this life, I shall find myself called upon to come to the assistance of those who lack sufficient food or clothing, or who need a place to live, or who need work. May I always find a way to follow the promptings of my conscience to help others whose humanity is diminished by the desperate conditions of their lives. Let me remember that you showed your love especially to the poor, and warned the rich that their wealth was an obstacle to holiness.
Amen

USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer

What We Do And When We Do It

The St. Anne Community Outreach Food Pantry has been in existence for approximately 16 years. It is located at 106 11th Avenue NE, in Ruskin, Florida, on the east side of the old church, in 2/3rds of a three-car garage. There is no running water, and only a window air conditioner. The doors and windows are open on Wednesdays when we distribute the food.

It is our goal to help feed the homeless and needy in our area. We distribute food every Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 12 PM. We distribute food to over 240 individual families monthly. Some come 4 times per month which would put our distribution service at about 1,000 or more. We presently have over 500 families registered to receive food from our food pantry. The food pantry operates with all volunteer help. There are no paid employees.

In order to reach this goal we need volunteers for the following:
- 6:30AM – Monday morning to pick up out dated bread at the Publix Grocery Store at the corner of Big Bend Road and Highway 301 and deliverer it to the Food Pantry.
- 8:45AM – Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to pick up out dated bread, pastries and deli products at the Sweet Bay Grocery Store across the street from the Church. - 6:30 AM – Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to pick up out dated bread and pastries at the Publix Grocery Store in Sun City Center.
- Twice a month on Friday at 7:30AM two men are scheduled to take the Food Pantry truck and drive to Seffner, Florida, Nativity Warehouse and pick up 25 or so boxes of dented cans of food, and other donated items, take these boxes to the Food Pantry and lift them from the truck onto the tables in the Food Pantry and sort the contents. Usually this entire procedure is completed around 11 AM. Heavy lifting is required.
- Twice a month two men are scheduled to take the Food Pantry truck and drive to Lakeland, Florida to the USDA Cahill Warehouse and obtain cases of food, drinks, etc. Again, these cases will be lifted onto the truck, and taken to the Food Pantry and lifted into the USDA area of the Food Pantry. Heavy lifting is required.
- Every Tuesday morning at 7AM 12 people are needed to fill the bags, and sort groceries and bag coffee, sugar, or what else may be on hand. This entire activity usually takes less than one hour.
- We also transport food from America's Second Harvest in Brandon, FL on miscellaneous days of the week. Heavy lifting is required.
- Every Wednesday morning, from 9AM to 12 Noon, two volunteers are scheduled to “work the window”. This means that the food is distributed to the people and names marked on a prepared sheet. Other volunteers are necessary at this time for many activities.
- If positions are filled, we need an on call list of available people to fill in when someone is out of town or unable to work for some reason.
- We also work on Holidays if one falls on a scheduled work day as people need Food no matter what day it is.

Click on a picture below to see a larger image

The truck was donated by the Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons Foundation and received on March 29th, 2008. It is a 2007 Classic Sierra 2500 Heavy Duty, which fits ours needs perfectly.