Our empty food pantry
Society & Culture, Practice & Voice

Operation Empty The Pantry




We Still Fight Hunger…

Operation Empty the Pantry started on Monday, Apr 27. The All Souls Community Resource Bank had food for the 70 families we normally serve through our school dinners, but no way to get it to them with the schools closed. Then Nancy McDonald connected us with the Dream Center, who agreed to deliver groceries to the families identified by the parent liaison from the schools. Matt, Bill, Sophia, and Deanna delivered over 1,700 pounds of food to the Dream Center in spite of a morning drizzle.

Volunteers hauling groceries at the Food Bank

Volunteers hauling food

Then, on Wednesday, April 29, a carefully timed schedule and flexible participation from our Community Resource Bank partners made it possible for us to distribute over 4600 pounds of groceries and fresh produce through the All Souls parking lot!

The distributions that we usually handle all through a whole month were condensed. Follow along with an unusual day in the life of the Community Resource Bank.

A Day in the Life of Our Food Pantry Volunteers

9:30 a.m. (on the dot!) – Day 2 of Operation Empty the Pantry ramped up when the National Guard showed up to deliver 70 boxes (~1700 lbs) of mixed fresh produce that we received from the Eastern Oklahoma Community Food Bank.

National Guard delivery of produce for our food pantry

9:30 a.m. – Dennis spent several hours in the pantry counting out and racking non-perishables for the Dream Center, Vernon AME, and Raising Native Hope. It took several hours because we limited the number of volunteers for every task. All our volunteers wore masks to reduce any risk.

A volunteer works in our food pantry

9:45 a.m. – Patsy arrived to count out produce boxes (gloved & masked!) for several partner groups to pick up.

10 a.m. – Our long-time partner Lindsey House loaded 380 pounds of produce and non-perishables

11 a.m. – Our new partner Women in Recovery picked up 865 pounds of produce (they received over 100 bags of groceries last week to deliver to women in the program).

Volunteers pack food from our pantry
Lindsey House
Volunteers pack produce that was donated to the food pantry
Women in Recovery – Patsy practicing social distancing

12 p.m. – Bill, Rick, and Patsy loaded over 1,000 pounds of fresh produce and non-perishables into their three vehicles to deliver to Empower Families, which serves 24 households. They were so fast and efficient that we only captured a photo of one loaded vehicle before they headed out.

A car load of food from our pantry

12:30 p.m. – Sophia and Cathey loaded their vehicles with 1,000 pounds of non-perishables and delivered them to the Dream Center to fill food needs in north Tulsa.

Volunteers loading a car

12:30 p.m. – Raising Native Hope picked up hygiene supplies such as soap, shaving cream packets & razors, along with ready-to-eat food and water bottles, to be handed out to Native Americans living homeless around the city.

A car filled with groceries and produce for the Vernon AME food pantry

1:30 p.m. – Deanna and Cathey loaded 1100 pounds of produce and non-perishables to deliver to Vernon AME Church for their walk-in food pantry. We connected with this new partner through the Tulsa Food Security Council, which Joe Nurre serves on.

Volunteers loading cars with food

2:30 p.m. – On the way back to the church, Deanna and Cathey stopped at the Food Bank to pick up 168 lbs of rice and several cases of water bottles – now the only items in our pantry.

AND – we always keep items on hand to help out congregation members. If your family could use some food support, please let a minister know, or email CRB@AllSoulsChurch.org. The Community Resource Bank serves the All Souls community, too.

Our Fight Against Hunger Continues

Coming up next:

  • This Wednesday, a volunteer is scheduled to pick up fresh produce at the Food Bank to be delivered for veterans at the Coffee Bunker.
  • On Thursday, volunteers are set to prepare and deliver All Souls’ monthly meal to the Day Center for the Homeless.
  • We have a large order in at the Food Bank that is due for pick up May 19 – and we’ll do it all again!

We are distributing more food than ever before, and the need is growing. Each distribution costs about $25 per family. If you can be a monthly sponsor for a family or two, or make a one-time donation, our partners will know they can count on us!

Our food pantry is almost empty!

Deanna Tirrell is the lay-volunteer coordinator for All Souls Community Resource Bank. She also serves our ACTION core team, as All Souls is proud faith-partner of ACTION Tulsa.

The CRB fosters awareness about issues of poverty and hunger by responding to the hunger crisis by distributing material goods and food to our partner schools and partner agencies. The CRB is a proud partner agency of Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. Read more about the impact CRB has in Tulsa.
Contact: crb@allsoulschurch.org

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