BROOKINGS – Every Thursday a small gathering of volunteers for Feeding Brookings meet at Ascension Lutheran Church to set up tables and arrange groceries on them, all in service of those in need.
But Feeding Brookings, which seeks to emulate the example of Jesus’ feeding a crowd with five loaves and two fish, is also in need, not of food but of volunteers.
Every week food is brought in from places such as Walmart, Hy-Vee and the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and it all requires manpower to organize and distribute to those people who look to Feeding Brookings for assistance.
They’d like to recruit about 15-20 volunteers each week, said Liz Thomsen, the program’s interning coordinator.
There are different jobs a volunteer could fill when they arrive. Setting things up starts at 2 p.m. on Thursdays, and it can include help unloading donations from Walmart and Hy-Vee.
Starting at 3:45 p.m., a friendly face behind the tables is also needed to help distribute the food to the recipients.
“We like to assign a volunteer to two or three items to go through and distribute. Behind the table, we like to get about 10 volunteers each week,” she said.
At the church, wagons are used to hold the recipient’s chosen food before they leave. Volunteers help put the food into packages and boxes and pull the wagon for the recipients. This is one of the jobs most in need of volunteers, with about 10-15 volunteers each week necessary for this job.
There’s also a need for carry-out help – that is, people who can bring the boxed-up food from the wagons to the people’s cars.
“We ask for carry-out so we don’t have to bring the wagons outside of the church and drag mud inside,” Thomsen explained.
Then at 5, everything is put away until next week.
Volunteers don’t have to come every week. In fact, Feeding Brookings gets volunteer groups now and again from different student groups or businesses who wish to lend a hand for a week or two.
There aren’t any rules in place for who can or can’t help, except that if a volunteer is younger than 10 years old, a parent should be present, too.
People can sign up to volunteer through Feeding Brookings’ website, www.feedingbrookings.org. From there, click on the tab labeled “Volunteer.”
Thomsen, a senior and dietetics major at South Dakota State University and a Slayton, Minnesota native, said participating in Feeding Brookings has been an eye-opening look into the struggle too many in this community have in affording basic necessities.
“We have gone through and talked with the people who come in, and they say that this helps them be able to afford rent, afford bills by having this free food for their families,” Thomsen said.
Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.
