Letter to Volunteers

A note from Fr. Sill: Dave Eldridge, the head of our Charitable Works Ministry, sent this letter to his volunteers on Saturday, March 21. After consulting with Dave, we decided that it was too risky for now to continue CWM outreach to those in need because of the age of our volunteers and the inherent problem with social distancing. We look forward to resuming CWM activities once the social distancing restrictions are lifted.

Hi all,

Yesterday, March 20^th, CWM suspended its operation until further notice. We will no longer accept food requests, provide financial assistance, or accept and distribute clothing until the scourge that is sweeping the country abates and we are given the all clear.

On a personal note, I cannot believe what I have just written. The term, CWM, is just a present-day term that is used, but its function has been a part of the parish since its inception.

Allow me to bore you with a short genesis of the parish’s food pantry, from my perspective. My family arrived in Gahanna in 1973. At that time, the ‘pantry’ operated out of the rectory office. The “Social Justice Committee” of the parish had initiated monthly canned food drives. Upon returning home from work, my wife would say that the rectory had called and asked if we would deliver food to a family that evening. We would deliver canned goods to the families. At the time there were probably 10 – 12 families involved.

Father Paul Smith allowed the Social Justice Committee to collect donations every 5^th Sunday of the month and later allowed the St. Vincent DePaul Society chapter to be formed.

When Monsignor McFarland became pastor, he allowed SVDP to collect donations every 4^th weekend of the year. It was during this time that SVDP obtained a credit line with Kroger. This allowed the person who delivered food in the evening to charge food items at Kroger prior to making the delivery.

When Father Noble arrived, we were still operating out of the rectory and making 25 – 30 food deliveries per month. Father Noble’s legacy will always be that he oversaw the demolition and rebuilding of St. Matthew Church, the addition of the PAC, and the conversion of the old convent. The conversion of the convent consisted of creating the Knights of Columbus hall on the upper level, reconfiguring the lounge area, a complete remodeling of the pantry, and creating a space for freezers and shelves in the old ‘trunk room’.

By this time, I had become chairperson of CWM. I was told by Fr. Noble to move the pantry out of the new rectory and into our present location, which we did in October of 2007. We became responsible for the payment of our phone system, the internet, and associated computer equipment.

Numerous meetings with people associated with our ministry were held to determine how to proceed, now that we had our own office, pantry space, and a mandate to operate semi-independently from the parish office. From these meetings, a strategy (model) was developed and initiated. Over the years, the model has worked well, due to the amazing support of the parish and the dedicated effort of our members. We have been able to:

• Expand the size our Christmas and Thanksgiving Dinner projects;
• Increase the size of our clothing ministry;
• Support the meals provided by the parish IHN committee;
• Financially assist pantries within the Diocese;
• Provide financial assistance to families who are experiencing difficult times.

Most importantly, since our primary mission is to operate as a food bank, I can point out to you some amazing figures concerning the growth that our ministry has obtained over the last 13 years:

• 167 food request to 1,549 food requests;
• 687 clients to 4,244 clients;
• 9,027 meals provided to 63,600 meals provided.

These are figures in which all of us can give thanks to God.

The problem that we are experiencing at present, aside from the current coronavirus, is that the basic tenant of the model that we operate on is flawed and must be changed.  Our current office hours (M-F, 10 am to noon) eliminate a large number of individuals in the parish who might be willing to volunteer, but because of the constraints of time are unable to do so.

At present, our ‘core’ group of daily volunteers consists of 6 -7 men. All but three of them are aged 80 and over. This cannot continue. New blood, male and female, must be infused into our ministry on a daily basis. How this will occur, I am uncertain at the moment. It is going to require some ‘brain-storming’. I ask everyone interested in helping Charitable Works in the future to brainstorm ideas about how we can change so that more people can help.

If you care to share your thoughts, my home email address is -  [email protected]

In the meantime, I give thanks to God for all of you who have so generously supported the St. Matthew Charitable Works Ministry with your time, treasure and talent. You are an amazing  group. 

Peace,
Dave