Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish member Norma King is quick to offer her helping hand. She holds her community dear and has been a volunteer with the Pigeon Food Pantry for about 50 years. Now 92, Norma’s friends and fellow volunteers call her “the Energizer Bunny,” because like the mascot, she just keeps going.

Norma said empathy and relating to those who are struggling led her to get involved in the food pantry.

“I had five children and a husband who worked at a gas station. We had some hard years… As the years went by we didn’t struggle as much, but I always remembered that,” she said. “I feel for people who are struggling.”

The Pigeon Food Pantry continues to be an ecumenical effort run by volunteers from area Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and Mennonite churches, united by the mission to feed the hungry. The pantry is housed in the Pigeon First United Methodist Church, where it has been for five decades.

The pantry partners with other community churches and agencies in the county and is mostly subsidized by area donations, churches, citizens and businesses. Products offered include some fresh meat, canned tuna, cereal, peanut butter, toilet paper and personal hygiene products. The food pantry, which is open the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. or by appointment.

Spreading holiday cheer

Volunteers know that the holidays can be particularly challenging for those struggling to make ends meet. That’s why the Pigeon Food Pantry provides specialty boxes filled with food items, personal care products and gifts like clothing, candy and toys for the holidays three times per year: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

After Kayla (whose last name is omitted for privacy), her husband and their seven children endured a house fire three years ago, they were incredibly thankful for the outreach they experienced from the Pigeon Food Pantry and the community.

“That time was pretty bleak. If it wasn’t for the church, I don’t know [what we would have done.] They came through for us,” she said.

Their family, including their children ages 8 to 17, received clothes, personal items and food, as well as special holiday boxes.

“That extra just brightened up my kids’ day. The candy or extras, it makes all the difference,” Kayla said. “[Our] older kids understand that we can’t provide for the holidays, but younger ones don’t. They see all their friends getting all these gifts. The holiday boxes are a blessing, especially because we don’t expect it. Each child got a gift.”

Kayla says receiving food and other pantry items can be emotional because she feels judgement and shame. But, she emphasized, not when it comes to the Pigeon Food Pantry.

“There’s no questions, no judgemental looks. They look at you like a person. People are just nice. They ask me how I am,” she said.

Kayla gives back to her church community when she has the opportunity, such as helping during the annual garage sale— and she hopes to continue volunteering for years to come.

“I wish I could be Norma when I grow older. She’s amazing,” she said.

Community effort

Linda and Dale Oeschger, who live in Kilmanagh near Pigeon, have volunteered for the Pigeon Food Bank for more than 20 years. They’re also involved with other worthy causes, such as Coats for Kids, offering a hand where and when it’s needed.

The Oeschgers are cash crop and livestock farmers who attend Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish with Norma, who they note as “inspiring” to see do so much for the community.

Linda volunteers her time by maintaining and organizing lists for the holiday boxes, which currently includes about 30 families. She compiles their names, along with the ages and gender of children, who need assistance and a “little extra” for the holidays. The churches who support the food pantry then work together with those families and donors to pack the boxes full of holiday cheer. Dale helps to deliver them shortly before each holiday.

“We’re Christian people. We like to help people,” Dale said. “We’ve been blessed with a good life and with the things we need. Others aren’t as fortunate. I like to volunteer where I’m needed.”

Marge Hall, treasurer of the Pigeon Food Pantry, said the volunteers are “a wonderful group of people” and the work could not be done without them.

The pantry provides food for more than 1,000 people each year, which is an increase from last year.

“The need is there,” Marge said. “It’s meaningful work. There are cuts being made to programs. Our needs are great.”

To meet those needs, Marge applies for grants to secure funding from governing agencies and nonprofits like the Catholic Community Foundation of Mid-Michigan.

Along with the non-perishable foods, cleaning and hygiene items, sometimes gift cards for meats are included inside the boxes. The Pigeon District Library also provides books for the children listed among the families who receive a box. Pigeon high schoolers also do “all the heavy lifting” by helping to distribute boxes, Marge added.

“We couldn’t do it all on our own,” she says. “It’s the whole community.”