For more than 30 years, young people and their families in the Bourbonnais/Kankakee region have worked together on a food drive that benefits up to 12 food pantries and resource centers in Kankakee County.
This young volunteer has his hands full.
It brings to mind the old adage, that many hands make light work. It’s true! Called Harvest Sunday, it is the largest food drive in Kankakee County, and always timed right before Thanksgiving.
This year, the collection drive drew three area youth ministry groups to pitch in: Hearts of Hope based at St. Patrick in Kankakee, Maternity BVM/St. George parishes in Bourbonnais and St. Joseph Parish in Bradley. And adults worked with them. At Maternity BVM alone, nearly 200 parishioners — or 85 families — worked together, estimates Maria Pallissard, Religious Education Director.
“We donated food to 12 food pantries in our area,” Associate Michelle Barrie said. “We are truly blessed to work with such committed young people in our youth ministry. When we loaded up all the food for the food pantries, we felt the blessings of a good ‘harvest.’ ”
The food drive is a two week project. It began on Nov. 3, when these young adults and adults from each parish spread out across the neighborhoods throughout Bourbonnais, Bradley and Kankakee, handing out leaflets describing the collection and the desired food stuffs.
Volunteers load food into the Salvation Army truck, one of 12 food pantries to benefit.
One week later, on Nov. 12, volunteers then covered the same 35 routes and brought donations back to their parish and to Bishop McNamara High School School in Kankakee — where the food stuffs were sorted and prepared for the food pantries.
“The number of food pantries we’re helping has grown,” Michelle Barrie adds, ” as the need has grown over the years for the people [who] are food insecure and need help.”
Associate Ken Barrie describes seeing so many young people working together to feed the hungry, as inspiring: “You see the hope and the positivity and the Spirit that comes forth. That is the highlight for me.”
This longstanding tradition, of parishioners working with young people to feed the hungry, advances a core pillar of the Viatorian mission, to “build up communities where faith is lived, deepened and celebrated.”