By Nancy McMillan
The Bethlehem Food Bank, along with its parent organization Caring for Bethlehem (CFB), is built on a tradition of volunteerism that is a town-wide point of pride. In this fall season, the 35 volunteers who keep this mini-grocery store purring year-long are hard at work preparing for the upcoming holiday.
“Holidays can be tough,” says Rick Wood, Financial Secretary and Funding Chair of CFB. “Summer jobs are done, fuel bills come due, and there are the holiday expectations.” Demand for groceries at the food bank increases 75 percent during November and December.
“We reach people who don’t come during the rest of the year,” says Vera Rosa, CFB President. “There’s no judgement here; we are community members helping others in our community.”
Wood and Rosa consider themselves the “conductors” of the organization, coordinating thousands of volunteer hours to meet local needs.
Both came by their desire to serve naturally. Rosa’s parents, firm believers in helping church and community, came to Bethlehem in 1950 to help build the Abbey of Regina Laudis. As a child, Wood delivered food with his mother to families in their New Hampshire factory town that had gone bust. After retiring, Wood, who serves as handbell choir director for Chime-in! Music with a Mission, found that he wanted to expand his community service. Caring for Bethlehem was born in 2017.
Based at the First Congregational Church in the center of Bethlehem, CFB encompasses a food bank, a fuel bank, an assistance fund, a comfort closet for personal care items, a scholarship fund, and coordinates with the Prince of Peace Clothing Bank at the Church of the Nativity. Besides providing both Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, CFB sponsors a gift-giving campaign for children.
The holiday effort begins in October, when forms are collected for meal and gift requests. Working with Region 14 school counselors, families who could benefit from assistance are discretely identified. True to their mission of building community, CFB involves townspeople and local groups outside their volunteer corps.
Last year, 300 gift tags were hung on the first Giving Tree at the local True Value hardware store. All the tags were snapped up by people in town; children’s gifts were delivered along with the holiday meals. The Giving Tree at True Value continues this year. The community participates in other ways: the local car club that gathers outside Nick’s Country Kitchen donates gifts, money, and food items; the local police contribute gifts; and volunteers shop on Christmas Eve to satisfy last-minute gift wishes.
Logistically, it is organized for simplicity. Parents and grandparents begin at the First Congregational Church for meal pick-up, cross the street to “shop” at Toyland at Christ Church, and visit the clothing bank around the corner. The loop demonstrates the safety net Caring for Bethlehem seeks to create.
After last year’s holiday season, Rosa says, “a lady pulled into my yard, got out of her car, and gave me a hug. ‘I would never have been able to give my granddaughter toys if it weren’t for the food bank,’” the woman told me. Adds Rosa, “We help kids have a Christmas.”—cfbethlehem.org
