{"id":48629,"date":"2021-02-27T12:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=48629"},"modified":"2021-03-06T18:06:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T23:06:53","slug":"bishops-mantle-volunteerism-fuels-patchwork-pantry-food-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/bishops-mantle-volunteerism-fuels-patchwork-pantry-food-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop’s Mantle: Volunteerism fuels Patchwork Pantry food ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This column by Jim Bishop ’67 was published in the Feb. 27, 2021, Daily News-Record.<\/em> The Patchwork Pantry, based at Community Mennonite Church, is directed by Jennifer Ulrich, technical services librarian at EMU. <\/em>\u00a0The ministry is ecumenical, with the board of directors including 13 members\u00a0from seven congregations representing five denominations.<\/em> Jan Jenner MA ’99 (conflict transformation), a former program director at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Dwight Kauffman ’66 and Daryl Peifer ’75 are also featured<\/em>, among many other volunteers who help to keep the pantry running.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Wednesday morning, you\u2019ll likely find Sam Moore<\/strong> at the same location doing a bevy of tasks \u2013 all out of love of service to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this particular day (Feb. 24), Sam, along with Len Carroll<\/strong> and Daryl Peifer<\/strong>, were unloading and checking some 6,000 pounds of food from Blue Ridge Area Food Bank for distribution at Patchwork Pantry (www.patchworkpantry.org<\/a>), the ecumenical food ministry based at Community Mennonite Church, 70 S. High St. in Harrisonburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men work with fellow volunteers Duane Miller<\/strong>, Randy Reichenbach<\/strong>, Paul Heisey <\/strong>and Dan Beachy<\/strong> to get the essential goods to the pantry every week. They declare it a \u201ccall to serve,\u201d in keeping with the pantry\u2019s mission statement: \u201cTo provide a three-day supply of staple food to those in need in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County . . . We regard the gifts of food, money and time as a sacred trust to be administered for the most effective hunger relief possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jennifer Ulrich is Patchwork Pantry’s program director. She is the technical services librarian at EMU. (Photo by Jim Bishop)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sam Moore, a retired purchasing manager at Wetsel Seed Company, has served on the Patchwork Pantry board of directors some 15 years and chairs the food committee of the board. In addition to helping with the Wednesday food delivery operation, he picks up bread and other perishable items from local supermarkets at reduced prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Ulrich<\/strong>, Patchwork\u2019s program director, has been involved at the pantry since its inception in 1992. She took over the reins in 2016 when Sheri Hartzler <\/strong>and her husband Jay<\/strong>, the Community Mennonite couple who started the program, went to Romania in mission work, where they still live most of the year. Jennifer is a long-time technical services librarian at Eastern Mennonite University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite many complications brought on by the pandemic, Jennifer noted that the pantry has been able to maintain regular operations 6:30-7:30 every Wednesday evening \u201cthrough creative problem-solving.\u201d The program only shut down once in May 2020 for a COVID-related issue and for three weeks in December due to weather and the holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have adjusted operations, as we do not have clients enter the church building but meet them outside in their vehicles for \u2018intake,\u2019 Jennifer said. \u201cWe used to let clients choose some of their food options but we\u2019re not able to do that at this time. We do continue to record each person\u2019s visit through a software program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help expedite procedural changes, Patchwork volunteers now pack some food items earlier in the day.  Additional volunteers are often needed to help this effort. To volunteer for Patchwork, go to: https:\/\/www.patchworkpantry.org\/volunteer-information<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCommunity support over the past year has been amazing,\u201d Jennifer stated, citing as examples:  Kids Clubs members at the church handed out books to clients; Dwight Kauffman<\/strong>, a woodworker and member at Community Mennonite, made toys and games that were given away for several months; and a women\u2019s group knit winter scarves, while other community persons contributed cloth masks to give to clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rising number of Patchwork clients speaks to the continuing hunger insecurity in the local community.  For the last quarter of 2020, even with being closed several weeks in December, 597 households were served. By way of comparison, 342 households received food assistance in the last quarter of 2019. In Jan.-Feb. 2020, 261 households received food and related items while 400 households were served in Jan.-Feb. 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As client numbers continue on the upswing, the pantry\u2019s greatest ongoing needs, according to Jennifer, are food donations, volunteers and financial contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonetary gifts are especially helpful, as we can use them to purchase certain items that we can\u2019t get from the Food Bank or to buy personal hygiene items,\u201d she noted. The most-needed commodities include rice, canned green vegetables and canned fruit, cereals and canned tuna and chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan Jenner<\/strong> is chair of the Patchwork Pantry board of directors that includes 13 members from 7 congregations representing 5 denominations. The biggest adjustment for the board during the pandemic has been \u201cgoing to ZOOM videoconferences rather than in-person meetings,\u201d Jan noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe, along with other organizations providing food to struggling community members, have received a huge benefit from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, as they are supplying both USDA and non-USDA food at no cost during the pandemic,\u201d Jan said. \u201cThis has saved us thousands of dollars and allows us to purchase additional items at area supermarkets to expand the kind of food items we\u2019re able to distribute each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile food drives have understandably decreased \u2013 with no thanks to the uncertainties brought on by COVID-19 \u2013 that has been more than made up by the generous financial contributions and other support from community members, churches and other organizations,\u201d Jan added.       <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s saying a mouthful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This column by Jim Bishop ’67 was published in the Feb. 27, 2021, Daily News-Record. The Patchwork Pantry, based at Community Mennonite Church, is directed by Jennifer Ulrich, technical services ... read more about Bishop’s Mantle: Volunteerism fuels Patchwork Pantry food ministry<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,17562],"tags":[],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-48629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-digest"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop's Mantle: Volunteerism fuels Patchwork Pantry food ministry - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/bishops-mantle-volunteerism-fuels-patchwork-pantry-food-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishop's Mantle: Volunteerism fuels Patchwork Pantry food ministry - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This column by Jim Bishop ’67 was published in the Feb. 27, 2021, Daily News-Record. 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