RALEIGH, N.C. — On a hot Monday morning July 7 in downtown Raleigh, N. C., the smell of spoiled food surprised the directors of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. The workers soon discovered the source of the stench — someone had stolen the charitable organization's electricity meter, leaving two freezers and a walk-in refrigerator without power over the sweltering July 4 weekend. Food to feed 3,000 needy people had been ruined.
A non-profit organization that utilizes volunteers from local faiths, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle transports fresh food to more than 200 local organizations that feed the hungry.
"It was a major loss," IFFS executive director, Jill Bullard, was quoted in the News & Observer. "People are in desperate need."
Reporter Jon Seidel stated that needy senior citizens in one neighborhood would not receive their monthly delivery of 55 bags of groceries they were scheduled to receive the day after the power disruption. In addition, no organization would receive meat from the shuttle until their protein supply could be restored.
"That meat will probably take a month to replace," said Emily Zartman, operations manager for the shuttle.
Within 24 hours of the newspaper article, however, the shuttle's meat supply was replenished by 38 cases of canned beef, canned turkey, beef stew, chili, and packaged pasta products from the Church's regional Bishop's Storehouse in Greensboro, N.C. When assistant IFFS director Sally Bache heard the delivery was on its way, she paused, and then said quietly, "I'm speechless."
The donation seemed a natural outgrowth of a near decade of volunteering at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle by members of the Raleigh North Carolina Stake. Service assignments are rotated monthly throughout the stake's 13 wards. Many members find it not only a fulfilling but also fun opportunity to drive the refrigerator trucks to pick up day-old food from donating businesses and deliver the food to the various homeless shelters and food providers for the needy in downtown Raleigh.
— Randolyn J. Emerson
