Students’ new food pantry receives a surprise boost

Delia Shropshire has a doctorate degree, but on one mid-October day, it didn’t take a Ph.D. to know what to say.

Her trip through the Sam’s Club aisles had already piled her cart so high that random strangers took note. More than one friendly inquirer asked about all the groceries, and Shropshire revealed they were for the new food pantry at Holy Savior Catholic Academy.

She rolled up to the checkout line with so much that it seemed only right to let the gentleman behind her skip ahead. “I said, ‘You only have one bottle of coffee creamer, and I have all this food. You should go first,’” Shropshire recounted. “He said, ‘Oh no, it’s okay, I’m waiting for my prescription.’”

With the ice thus broken, the man also asked why she was buying so much food. She explained it was for the food pantry at the school at which she serves as president. He seemed keenly interested, so she got on her phone to e-mail him a copy of the flyer Holy Savior students had distributed throughout the school’s surrounding neighborhood the previous day. The man became downright excited, Shropshire describes. 

“He said, ‘We should do more,’” she said. “I asked what he meant and he said, ‘We are going to fill another cart with the same amount of food you have right now – and I’m buying it.’ We went back and loaded up another cart, and then he and I packed up our cars and brought it here to the school.”

That wasn’t the end of the story, though, with the man who prefers to remain anonymous, although Shropshire has dubbed him “God’s Food Pantry Angel.” He has no previous connection with the parish or school, she notes. “He didn’t know us at all,” she said. “He just wanted to help.”

In Love of God and Neighbor

According to Shropshire, Holy Savior Catholic Church ran a food pantry for many years from the parish’s St. Peter Claver Complex, but the newly constructed school and church lacked the space to reactivate it at the same level. The scaled-back operation then shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic. Plans to restart it moved slowly.  

“It was kind of on a back burner,” she said.

Nevertheless, indicates Holy Savior pastor Fr. Adam Grelinger, the Holy Savior community recognized the needs in its surrounding area. “It’s a lower-income zip code,” he said. “We want to offer some food for our neighbors.” 

Moreover, Shropshire points out, many of the neighborhood’s supermarkets have closed in recent times. “In this immediate area, all there are for people without transportation are a few Dollar Stores and corner stores,” Shropshire said. “Our students realized that and wanted to make an impact, so we have been talking about a food pantry sponsored by students for about three years. We have done some research, met with groups, community partners and food banks, and we thought we’d give it a shot.”

The next step was to craft a proposal for an In Love of God and Neighbor grant through the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, she says. When the grant proposal was approved, the students took it as a sign to make literal signs in the form of informational fliers about the food pantry to distribute throughout the area.

Holy Savior First Grade Teacher Emanuyel Brown is among the school’s teachers organizing the students’ food pantry efforts, and indicates his own youthful experience on such projects provided a background for the undertaking.

“When I was younger, my mom used to have me volunteer to help out at food pantries or food banks for four or five hours after school or on weekends,” he said. “The (Holy Savior) kids were really willing to help. We went out in the rain, knocking on peoples’ doors, passing out our fliers, and working to spread the word. It was really cool to see them so motivated to do that work.”

“As we were coming back to the school, the sun came out,” Shropshire said. “Some of the students said, ‘God must be pleased.’ ‘He is,’ I told them.”

“Our school talks about learning with our heads, our hearts, and also with our hands,” Fr. Grelinger said. “An integral part of a religious education is putting our faith into practice and serving our neighbor as Jesus calls us to. To help them do that is a pretty fun way to get the kids involved.”

Turkey time

The day after flier distribution, Shropshire left for Sam’s and encountered the shopper who doubled the food pantry order. When they arrived back at Holy Savior, they found the school’s power out.

“The kids were unloading the food in the dark, with everyone using their phones as flashlights,” she said. “My phone started buzzing with a text from the same gentleman.”

He wanted to know about Holy Savior’s freezer capacity, Shropshire explained, because he had arranged to buy 100 turkeys from a Wichita Walmart. 

“I felt like I had won the lottery,” she said. “I mean, my knees got weak. At one point I was almost hysterical – crying and laughing at the same time – because I was so overwhelmed with God’s grace. I was also laughing at the problem of figuring out how to transport 100 turkeys.”

Her own vehicle was much too small for such a load, she realized. But the new benefactor promised to help with the transportation. “While we were at Walmart he told the manager we had another food distribution on Nov. 20,” she said. “I was amazed that he had already committed the dates on the flier to memory.”

“He’s part of the team now,” Fr. Grelinger said.

A great blessing

Shropshire especially relishes the students’ reaction when she told them about their unexpectedly expanded food pantry. “They started jumping up and down, screaming, hollering, raising their hands, and praising God,” she said. “When they saw the man, they ran up to him and gave him high fives. Even at Sam’s, when people realized what was going on, the employees, other customers, and everybody was energized and rallying around us.”

Brown said he appreciated the extent to which the undertaking has provided the students with firsthand knowledge about helping others. “It has been a really good way to teach them about going out, building relationships, and serving the community,” he said.

“There are so many sad stories in the world today, and so many people who feel disconnected,” Shropshire said. “This story is about a great blessing from God that just kept coming. It just kept coming.”