FCSLA In the Community: Join Hands Day

S161: St. Vincent de Paul Society Dining Hall

When the officers and members of Branch S161, Youngstown, Ohio, met to plan their Join Hands Day project, it was unanimously decided their volunteerism should include working at one of the local food kitchens since there has been an increase in people attending the free meals offered there. They chose the "Sponsorship Program" of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society Dining Hall. The hall daily serves 250 meals to people in the Hall and delivers 120 meals to home bound residents. The program requires that the sponsoring group provide eight volunteers a day from 9:30-12:30, Monday through Friday and donate $500 to pay for the food prepared for that week.

In exchange for the volunteers and donation, the group displays a large sign in the hall with the group's name painted on it. It was decided to reserve the week of June 8-12, 2009 to work at the hall. This made it convenient for the young members of the branch to participate because school was recessed for the summer.

Writing the check for $500 was the easy part. The officers of S161 (President, Virginia DeLuca; Secretary, Millie Kust; Treasurer, Bernadette Demechko, Senior Branch Auditor, Betty Zajac; and Junior Branch Auditor, Agatha Fabiny) worked to recruit the eight adults needed daily to set up tables, wrap dinnerware in napkins, prepare pastry trays, serve the meals and clean up. Carpools were arranged and the high school students were contacted to volunteer. Altogether, more than 40 members of the FCSLA Branches S161 and J192 were involved in the "Sponsorship Program."

Learn more about FCSLA in the community.