Tabatha Marks struggles to make ends meet every month with high medical bills related to several chronic health conditions she lives with and injuries from an auto accident she had two years ago.

And though the Clio resident receives government assistance to get by, the $291 in food stamps she receives every month doesn’t go very far. By the middle of the month, Tabatha is usually out of food. To help manage her health conditions, Tabatha must eat certain items. With the increasing cost of groceries, sometimes that means she has to decide which bills to pay.

But large-scale food distributions—like the ones Ss. Francis and Clare in Birch Run began offering earlier this year—help bridge the gap for Tabatha and hundreds of families in Birch Run and the surrounding areas.

“It’s like a Band-Aid. It gets me by until I get my food stamps again,” said Tabatha, who was grateful for the two bags of groceries she received from Ss. Francis and Clare’s food distribution on May 11.

As of Sept. 9, Ss. Francis and Clare in Birch Run had supplied area families with 56,000 pounds of food, assisting between 300 and 350 households through the large-scale food distributions that began in January. Additionally, the monthly food pantry has distributed 5,862 pounds of food and non-perishable items from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. And that’s not counting the food, non-perishable items and grocery gift cards that parishioners routinely donate to the food pantry.

The parish started in 2008 with a library cart that parishioners filled with donated food items, said Janet Scheffler, who runs the parish’s food pantry. Today, the parish helps about 27 families a month in the surrounding area.

Once the food arrives, people either pick it up from the parish, or if they are homebound, dedicated volunteers deliver the food, Janet said. The goal is always to provide at least two weeks’ worth of food to each family. Emergency help also is available to those in need.

“The majority of people we help are on Social Security income and over the age of 65,” Janet said, adding that the pantry provides groceries to families in Birch Run, Taymouth Township, Bridgeport, Burt and Frankenmuth. Some people need the help every three months, others every six months and a few occasionally need help when they are faced with large or unexpected expenses.

Despite this reach, Father David Jenuwine—pastor of Ss. Francis and Clare—began noticing that the food pantry was struggling to keep its shelves stocked when inflation took off in 2023.

“We were starting to feel the pinch,” he said.

Then in April 2023, Father Jenuwine was sitting in a Birch Run Rotary Club meeting when a speaker from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan began talking about opportunities for large-scale food distributions. It seemed like an answer to their prayers.

So Father Jenuwine and Janet filled out the necessary paperwork to receive both monthly and large-scale food distributions funded in part by federal grants through the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. In October 2023, the parish received its first monthly order of groceries from the food bank, and in January, it held its first large-scale distribution. Another food distribution was held in May, and another one was held in September. The goal is to continue the large-scale distributions.

The parish also is expanding food cabinet space in the parish hall, thanks to a carpenter—a brother of one of the parishioners.

How it all came together—from a struggling food pantry in 2023 to a large-scale food distribution reaching thousands—is a “miracle,” Father Jenuwine said. It reminds him of Matthew 14:13–21 where Jesus feeds the 5,000.

The large-scale food distributions also demonstrate how collaboration among parishioners, community members, and others can make a big impact, he said.

At the May 11 food distribution, for example, volunteers from the parish, the Birch Run Rotary Club, and uniformed members from the First Battalion of the Michigan State Defense Force (for which Father Jenuwine is the chaplain), showed up early in the morning ready to unload pallets of food when the semi from Eastern Michigan Food Bank backed up to the front door of the church at 8 a.m. Within an hour, the group had unloaded the pallets, filled up 400 bags of groceries for 200 families—the equivalent of 7,000 pounds of food—for families already sitting in the parking lot.

Thirteen-year-old Emma De Vriese—a Birch Run parish member and altar server—was there with her mother, Deane, to volunteer. As Emma stuffed a grocery bag full of food, she reflected on why she was there. “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me,” she said, quoting Matthew 25:40.

“We get to help the people who need it,” she said. “We don’t know everyone’s situation, so we can’t really judge.”

Throughout the morning, Father Jenuwine—a U.S. Navy veteran and former automotive engineer— organized the distribution and promoted it on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Then when vehicles began filling the parking lot, Father Jenuwine loaded up a cart full of grocery bags and began delivering them to waiting families.

Within four hours, 25 pallets of food totalling 10 tons were distributed to everyone who showed up. Members of the Michigan State Defense Force had the opportunity to use the event as a points of distribution (PODs) exercise and the ability to qualify for a military emergency management specialist (MEMS) badge. At the same time, parishioners lived out the Gospel and hundreds of people in need received food.

By volunteering to distribute food to those in need, “the people who are serving are being fed as well” because Scripture comes alive and turns into action, Father Jenuwine said. Parishioners live out the corporal works of mercy by feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty.

As practicing Catholics, we are called to “be doers of the Word, and not hearers only,” said Father Jenuwine, quoting James 1:22.

“In a sense as a priest, this is what I’ve been called to do. And nothing else matters if I can’t do this,” he said. “I want people to live the Gospel more fully. My job as pastor is to make people holy.”

The Seven Tenents of Catholic social teaching

Life and Dignity of the Human Person

Call To Family, Community And Participation

Rights and Responsibilities

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

Solidarity

Care for God’s Creation

By Maria Coss

The recorded history of the world shows that the poor and vulnerable have been present from the earliest of times. The principle of Catholic Social Teaching that addresses this segment of society, “Option for the poor and vulnerable”, is based on the concept that their needs are to be considered first. This principle is supported by both scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46), Jesus describes how the last judgment will weigh how we treated the poorest and most vulnerable around us. The Catechism states, “those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere.” (CCC 2448)

We as Christians should embrace the understanding and belief that God cares for all creation, and the poor and vulnerable have the greatest needs to be met to maintain their human dignity and value as beloved children of God.

How are you living this out in your daily life and actions? This coming year, join the 2025 Lenten season and the 50th Anniversary of Rice Bowl to contribute meaningfully to supporting those in need around the world and within your community.