September 9, 2004
Rice Bowl grant helps rural parish
offer food and more
By Terry McGuire
MORTON — Like the bargain shopper she is, Chris Tichacek fingered the can of Vienna sausage on the shelf last week and spoke proudly of how she had found it on sale at a store in another Southwest Washington town for 38 cents rather than the usual 2-for-$1.
She was standing, not in her kitchen, but next to a rack of canned goods in the Pastor's Pantry at Sacred Heart Church. As the pantry's volunteer coordinator, Tichacek is constantly on the lookout for ways to stretch the budget to serve people in need.
Like its urban brethren, Sacred Heart has seen an increase in the number of hungry households, so it opened the food bank at Thanksgiving time two years ago. Parishioners, area businesses, and others in the community keep it going with donations of cash, food and other items.
The Pantry also was recently aided by a $600 grant from Operation Rice Bowl, making it among the 142 recipients of Rice Bowl grants this year. The grants were announced recently by Archbishop Alex J. Brunett.
Best known for its take-home cardboard banks that Western Washington parishioners fill during Lent, Operation Rice Bowl is Catholic Relief Services' annual Lenten program of praying, fasting, learning and giving.
Seventy-five percent of the contributions go to CRS development programs around the world. The remainder stays in the home diocese to support programs alleviating hunger and poverty.
This year, Western Washington Catholics donated almost $350,000 (second largest ever), of which more than $83,000 is being distributed locally to food banks, community meals, and other charitable programs around Western Washington, said J.L. Drouhard, director of the archdiocesan Missions Office, which with a local grant committee oversees the grant distribution.
For recipients such as the Pastor's Pantry, the grants will help as they strive to meet a growing demand in the Morton area. In its first month the Pastor's Pantry served 32 families. Last June — its busiest month ever it was 123.
"I knew there was poverty," said Sacred Heart pastor Father Roger Smith, "but it has been a learning experience just to see how deep and broad it is."
Some of the families are victims of local mill closures caused by the area's sluggish logging industry. But parish office manager Janet Langrell said the pantry's clients range from young families to retired couples.
Langrell has watched the pantry grow from occupying two walls of shelves in her office to its current location in the back of the parish hall. They're applying for membership in the Lewis County Food Bank Coalition, which would enable them to purchase food in bulk and have access to surplus food.
Tichacek noted that the pantry also offers toiletries — something not normally found in other food banks. Vitamins and baby diapers also are available.
"Father (Smith) is a stickler for vitamins on the shelf," Langrell said, because "if somebody's not eating right, they need vitamins.
"You don't normally get things like that from a food bank."
Diane Steig, one of the food bank's users, said the pantry has been a critical resource for her family. Both she and her husband are disabled, she said, and their adult daughter, who lives with them, is fighting colon cancer.
"If we didn't have the pantry, we would be without a lot of things we really need," she said.
Approximately 15 volunteers keep the pantry operating smoothly. It's open three days a week and has a limit of two bags of food per week.
Parishioners from Sacred Heart and the Packwood Station in Packwood are among the pantry's regular donors. Other churches also have helped out.
Colton Pharmacy, Bailey's Market and Morton Country Market are among the merchants that regularly provide items at a discount.
A local dentist supplies toothbrushes at cost. A parishioner who is a Mary Kay cosmetics representative also regularly donates items.
The pet food in the pantry comes courtesy of Tichacek, who always has some left over after feeding her pets back home: five horses, five cats, four ducks, three dogs and a goose.
And Langrell makes jellies and jams for pantry patrons.
"They're delicious," Steig said. "They only ask you to bring the jars back."
Other 2004 Rice Bowl grant recipients are: Aberdeen, Catholic Community Services (CCS) Grays Harbor Family Center; Bainbridge Island, St. Vincent de Paul conference at St. Cecilia Parish; Belfair, Prince of Peace Church's Guatemalan Community Food; Bellevue, CCS East King County Family Center (multi grants); Bellingham, Bellingham Community Meal Program, Evergreen AIDS Foundation, Opportunity Council; Bremerton, St. Vincent de Paul conference at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish; Burien, Hospitality House of S. King Co.; Burlington, Skagit Gleaners; Camas, Inter-Faith Treasure House; Castle Rock, St. Mary Parish's summer Kids Meals; Chehalis, Redhawk Eco Village; Covington, St. John the Baptist Parish's Kent Community Supper; Darrington, Darrington Community Services Center food bank; Deming, Nooksack Indian Tribe's elder's program; Eatonville, Family Agency Food Bank; and Ethel, Toledo Food Bank. Everett, CCS Snohomish Family Center (multi grants), Housing Hope, Interfaith Family Shelter, St. Vincent de Paul conferences at Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Mary Magdalen parishes, St. Vincent de Paul Society of Snohomish Co., Snohomish Co. Center for Battered Women; Federal Way, Community Suppers; Forks, Caring Place of West Clallam County; Issaquah, Eastside Baby Corner, Issaquah Food Bank; Kent, Elizabeth House, Homeless Outreach Mobilization Effort, Holy Spirit Parish Monday Night Supper, Pregnancy Aid of Kent; Kirkland, Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing; La Conner, St. Paul Parish Breakfast Club; Lacey, Sacred Heart Parish Emergency Outreach; Lakewood, Emergency Food Network, St. Frances Cabrini Parish St. Vincent de Paul conference; Langley, Pregnancy Aid of Whidbey Island, St. Hubert Parish Outreach; and Longview, Community House on Broadway, St. Rose Parish FISH Food Program, St. Rose St. Vincent de Paul conference. Mill Creek, Seton House; Monroe, Matthew House, Sky Valley Food Bank; Mount Vernon, Friendship House Hot Meal Program; North Bend, Mt. Si Helping Hand Food Bank; Oak Harbor, St. Augustine Parish outreach-food bank; Olympia, CCS Thurston County Family Center (multi grants), St. Michael Parish Community Kitchen Meals; Pe Ell, Pe Ell Community Food Bank; Port Orchard, St. Gabriel Parish Share/Care; Poulsbo, St. Oalf Parish St. Vincent de Paul conference; Puyallup, St. Francis House; Renton, St. Anthony Parish St. Vincent de Paul conference, St. Stephen Housing Association, H.O.M.E. Men's Shelter; and Ridgefield, Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Seattle, Blessed Sacrament Parish Food Bank, Boomtown Café, Catholic Seamen's Club, CCS/Archdiocesan Housing Authority shelters and services (multi grants), Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs Emergency Help, Holy Rosary Parish (multi grants), Jubilee Women's Center, New Horizons Ministries, Operation Nightwatch, Lao Tribal Community Garden Project, Providence Hospitality House, Providence Regina House, Rosehedge AIDS Housing & Health Care, Sacred Heart Parish SHARE/WHEEL and St. Vincent de Paul conference, Sojourner Place, First Ave. Service Center, St. Edward, St. Paul and St. Mary parishes' St. Vincent de Paul conferences, St. Mary Food Bank, St. Therese Parish overnight shelter, St. Vincent de Paul Society Seattle Council, University Street Ministry, and Westside Baby. Seaview, St. Mary Parish St. Vincent de Paul food bank, and public food bank in Ilwaco; Sequim, St. Joseph Parish St. Vincent de Paul conference; Shelton, Saints Pantry Food Bank; Snohomish, St. Michael Parish St. Vincent de Paul conference; Sumner, St. Andrew Emmanuel Food Pantry; Tacoma, Pierce County Hunger Walk, CCS Southwest Family Center and Tahoma Family Center (multi grants), Lakewood Area Shelter Association, Nativity House, Neighborhood Clinic, Pregnancy Aid of Tacoma, St. Leo Parish (multi grants), Tacoma Catholic Worker Guadalupe Gardens & Guadalupe House, Phoenix Housing Network; Vancouver, St. John Parish St. Vincent de Paul conference, St. Vincent de Paul Society Vancouver District Conference; Vashon, St. John Vianney Parish Wednesday Night Dinner; and Woodland, St. Philip Parish Holiday Food Baskets. n