Churches respond to food insecurity with loaded pantries

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

Not everybody knows that Second Harvest Food Bank is a ministry of the Archdiocese of New Orleans or that Second Harvest prepares an average of 1,000 meals daily – not counting upwards of 10,000 meals prepared daily during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis or hurricane disaster relief in Louisiana this season.

The ministry is Catholic in every sense of the word – all-encompassing as well as faith-based. 

“The reason we feed people isn’t because they are Catholic; it is because we are Catholic,” said Dominican Father David Caron, a Second Harvest board member and the new, faith-based outreach coordinator. “We serve all faiths. What we do here are the corporal works of mercy – in Matthew 25, ‘When I was hungry you gave me food.’” 

Creating awareness

Since joining the staff in September, Father Caron said he’s been reaching out to the 109 pastors in the Archdiocese of New Orleans to enhance Second Harvest’s Catholic identity and spread the word of the agency’s important and ever-growing work. 

“I’ve written to them and sent them a questionnaire and asked what they are doing in their parishes regarding food insecurity – to get a baseline,” he said. “Some parishes have a food pantry. Some parishes are one of our sites (where food is distributed), and some parishes don’t do very much. We are trying to get them to have food collections more than at Thanksgiving (and Christmas). Our shelves get empty quickly (throughout the year).”


Click here for parish food pantry resource list

On Oct. 19, he started conducting small group pastor tours of the Second Harvest facility at 700 Edwards Ave. near Harahan to educate Catholic pastors of the history of the ministry (Archbishop Philip Hannan started it with then-Father Roger Morin, who became the Bishop of Biloxi), the complexity of food insecurity and how parishes and individuals can help to end hunger.  Two more tours are scheduled in November. 

“We’re inviting the pastors to come and to have a presentation; to see our kitchen and warehouse and get an experience of Second Harvest and give them something to eat – to get them to learn about the ministry here,” Father Caron said. “They can then go back to their parish and, if they are looking for an outreach ministry, this is a natural one. It belongs to the archdiocese, in a sense. We are here.”

In addition, he’s reached out to other Christian and Protestant churches,  the Jewish Federation and the Muslim communities.

Volunteers desperately needed

A recent fruit of his outreach resulted in volunteers from the Hispanic Apostolate pitching in Oct. 24 to sort and package fresh fruits and canned goods before they were distributed to local food banks and other partner organizations statewide. The group was led by Hispanic Apostolate director Dominican Father Sergio Serrano, Father Manuel Solorzano and Father Luis Duarte, parochial vicar at Divine Mercy Parish in Kenner.

“It’s an opportunity for the Hispanic people to give back to the United States because the United States gave us so much,” Father Solorzano said. “It’s Hispanic Heritage Month (October), and people need to know that Second Harvest helps a lot of people.”

“The Hispanic community is affected greatly by COVID,” said Father Caron, due to loss of jobs and wages and health care. 

Because it is a population served by Second Harvest, volunteers were honored to participate in this service project. One volunteer was a very observant 11-year-old, Maria Castro. She said she often sees many homeless individuals as she and her mom, Graciela Momcada, drive around New Orleans.

“I really want to help the community,” said Maria, a sixth grader at Resurrection of Our Lord School in New Orleans East, said. She and her mother are parishioners of Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, also in New Orleans East, and plan to volunteer again soon.

Since Second Harvest especially welcomes bilingual volunteers, Father Solorzano mentioned that he aspires to rally volunteers from the Hispanic Apostolate’s 2-year-old scouting and soccer program for boys and girls, ranging in age from 4-17.

Staff becoming closer

To further enhance the faith aspect of Second Harvest, Father Caron said weekly prayer gatherings are held with the staff, which is known to step in – as they did on Columbus Day (Oct. 12) when they cooked, boxed and wrapped meals for Hurricane Delta response when there were too few volunteers.

In addition to the constant need for volunteers – especially on Saturday – Second Harvest is in need of contributions. For every dollar raised, four meals can be prepared, Father Caron said. A recent fundraiser, the annual Duck Derby, sold the most ducks ever – 35,000.

“It was very well done,” Father Caron said.  “It was very well-received. 

To find out about volunteer opportunities in three- to four-hour shifts Monday through Saturday at Second Harvest, visit the website at https://no-hunger.org and click the dropdown volunteer menu at the top.

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