Giving back this holiday season

With Christmas just around the corner, various activities are going on in Decorah and on campus to serve those in need. The First Lutheran Food Bank, which operates throughout the year, offers special service to the needy during the holidays, and Christmas Cheer at Luther sends out useful gifts to families in the program.

First Lutheran pastors started the food pantry in 1966 for people who were denied help at the county food shelf without proof of income.

The food shelf started with volunteers getting groceries for people who came, but soon they decided to keep some groceries on hand. The Social Concerns Committee, which manages the food bank, came into being, consisting of 12-15 people.

Initially, the food pantry was open once a week, and as more and more people came, it stayed open for three afternoons a week. Now, the Food Bank remains open five afternoons a week.

Volunteer coordinator Carolyn Flaskerud started working at the Food Bank in 1998. She became the shopper and the volunteer coordinator.

On Monday mornings, Flaskerud goes to Pizza Hut and gets day-old pizza. Then she heads to Walmart and picks up boxes that have “Feeding America” written on them.

“Some mornings, there will be two boxes and some mornings five boxes,” Flaskerud said. “They give bread and rolls, sometimes even pies, cakes and cup-cakes. Then I bring them into church.”

On Tuesday mornings, the truck from the Waterloo Food Bank brings in discounted meat and bread from Walmart and various groceries. The meat costs the Lutheran Food Bank 21 cents a pound, the delivery cost charged by the Waterloo Food Bank.

Carolyn also shops at all the local grocery stores since the Food Bank at Waterloo does not have all the things that the food pantry in Decorah needs.

“A case of cereal from the Food Bank at Waterloo costs what one box costs in the grocery store,” Flaskerud said.

Fareway has a box in which people can donate things for the Food Bank. Quillins donates things that are just about to expire or go unsold. The Co-op also gives meat for the freezer.

The food pantry’s primary source of income is donations, although it has received some grants in the past. The freezer and the shelves in the pantry are all donations.

People donate money as memorials at funerals, and at the end of the year some will stop in with a check because of tax deductions. People can also donate to the food bank in a separate green envelope in the offering box at First Lutheran and get credit for it.

To receive food from the food pantry, registration forms, available in English, Spanish and Russian, have to be filled out first. Clients are allowed to visit the food pantry only once per week.

Over the years, Luther students have volunteered at the food bank. Those who can translate from these various languages to English have been particularly helpful.

Abe Campos (‘10) has volunteered at the Food Bank for almost three years now.

“The part I enjoy the most is that after going there every week you get to know people, the weekly clients there, and just being able to help them out,” Campos said. “To know that you are doing something positive that you are not really paid to do for the community is really rewarding.”

There was a big increase in the number of clients at the food pantry after the Postville immigration raid, and now there is another increase because of the economy and loss of people’s jobs.

Apart from food, the food pantry seeks donations of items such as blankets, sheets and towels.

“People really appreciate getting blankets, new and decently used ones, especially in this cold weather,” Flaskerud said.

Surprisingly, summer time is when the number of clients is highest, not during holidays like Christmas. During summer, people have children eating at home and not getting free lunch at school.

Holidays give the pantry a chance to add to their routine. For Thanksgiving, Decorah’s Wapsi Produce donated 102 capons to the food bank, while Christmas gives the food pantry the opportunity to give presents to children of clients.

The Social Concerns Committee also does the ‘star tree’ for Christmas, in which the congregation members pick a card, which has the description of something someone wants. They buy a gift or a gift certificate accordingly and bring it back to the church. These gifts are distributed to the schools and people who need them most.

Similar to this service activity, various ensembles, choirs and groups at Luther take part in Christmas Cheer every year.

SAC assigns a family to each group or choir depending on the group’s request for a big or a small family. For instance, the Collegiate Choir, consisting of 77 participants, has a large family of eight members whereas KWLC radio station is assigned to a smaller family.

Each group gets a description of the things each member of the family needs but no names.

“Knowing what they need, even though we don’t know their names, makes it a lot more personal,” Collegiate Choir head Ian Nichols (‘10) said. “That is a motivator for people to donate for Christmas Cheer.”

Last year, Collegiate Choir raised about $830 for Christmas Cheer.

“It is hard, especially with the economy right now, to get people to donate that much money, but we’re trying really hard, and people are still trying to be as generous as they can,” Nichols said.

If you’re looking for a way to give back during this holiday season, check out both The First Lutheran Food Bank and the Christmas Cheer organization.