Everyone needs to eat. Yet not everyone needs to make sure they do.

But some people choose to make sure anyways. A majority of the operations at local food pantries and soup kitchens are carried out by volunteers. From the purchase of ingredients to the cleaning of plates, there is charity at every step of these meals for the less fortunate.

At Calvary Food Pantry, 38 volunteers unload trucks of food, stock the pantry's shelves and prepare meal packages for distribution to about 200 needy families every month.

“They're the backbones of it,” said Nancy Sheffield, the pantry's director. “They love doing it, and they have a wonderful fellowship.”

Most of the Calvary Food Pantry's volunteer force consists of seniors from the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and local churches. Volunteers like Ethel Shaw give, on average, two to four hours of their time a week.

“It's a pleasure to do it,” Shaw said. “You get so much satisfaction from knowing you're helping somebody else.”

In addition to working in the paid position of director, Sheffield also gives her time through the RSVP.

“I've made so many good friends through volunteering,” she said.

With the price of food on the rise, the Calvary Food Pantry is experiencing a 30 percent increase in the number of needy people it serves. The surge has even necessitated an additional day of service at the pantry. Its volunteer base, however, remains big.

“We could use a few more men to do some heavy lifting,” Sheffield said. “But we're pretty good.”

In a typical shipment, the needy recipients of the pantry's charity are given three meals a day for five days. The pantry strives to balance those meals with healthy helpings of fruits, vegetables and meat. To spice up the clients' plates and stretch their budgets, the pantry also offers cooking classes every Wednesday.

The spirit of generosity also prevails at the SS. Peter and John Church's soup kitchen. It collects much of its food from the Central New York Food Bank, and its volunteers come from various churches in the area, namely SS. Peter and John.

In her time as head of the SS. Peter and John Church's soup kitchen, Mary Ann Ginnerty has seen its guest total go from 19 on its opening day to 185 last summer. But recently, it has experienced another surge in traffic since the severe spike in food prices.

“There are people who work but they're choosing between gas and food,” Ginnerty said. “That's why the numbers are going up; so it's a whole different group.”

Last year, the kitchen served 7,000 meals to its guests. Behind each bite was hours of volunteered time.

“The real heroes are the dishwashers, the people who set up tables, the cleaners, the people who lug stuff and cook,” Ginnerty said. “Without them, I would have a heart attack.”

Ginnerty equally reveres the guests she serves at the kitchen, such as the man who said he wouldn't eat a meal there unless he could also volunteer his time, since he was between jobs. Then there are the kids who turned the kitchen staff's heads by eating brussel's sprouts with their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And Ginnerty also recalls the parents who told their children to drink all the milk they could because they rationed it at home.

The kitchen has avoided financial hardship through Ginnerty's bargain-hunting skills, with which she rounds out the ingredients obtained from the CNY Food Bank. This approach to collecting food also pushes the cooks to be creative with their menus.

Once the kitchen staff found itself with a full case of beets. The cooks decided to add a few cans of cranberry sauce to concoct sweet beets.

“We find that providing a hot meal is sometimes much less expensive than sandwiches,” Ginnerty said. “Our major expenses are paper products.”

The Throopsville Community Church's food pantry also relies on the CNY Food Bank to stock its shelves. About five volunteers donate six to eight hours of their time to the pantry every week to prepare meals for as many as 125 families in the area.

Each family member is given nine meals every Thursday. Most pick their food up, but sometimes pantry volunteers must ferry it to the families if they encounter vehicular trouble.

Pat Nichols, the pantry's coordinator, also volunteers her time to feed the poor recipients of the pantry's charity.

“It's the smiles on the children's faces,” Nichols said. “When they come in there and people know they're going to get help, we make them feel like we're all in the same boat.”

Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net

Want to help?

Calvary Food Pantry

To volunteer or to arrange a food drop, call 252-7772

SS. Peter and John soup kitchen

To volunteer, call 253-2176

Throopsville Community Church food pantry

To volunteer or to arrange a food drop, call 253-7850 or 246-4659