Through the Dorothy West building at 201 S. Pecan, the Roxton Pantry serves several hundred people with free food each month. But getting the groceries transported from Paris and unloaded into the Roxton facility is proving a challenge to the current crop of volunteers, said Allan Hubbard, Downtown Food Pantry executive director.
“The sweet ladies from both the Methodist and Baptist churches in Roxton have a lot of gusto and passion to help people. But it hurts me to know they can’t get enough able-bodied people to help them unload hundreds of pounds of food and they’re doing a lot of it themselves,” Hubbard said. “We’re just trying to spread the word that some men, or younger women, are needed to unload the trailer twice each month.”
On a recent receiving day, it almost was unable to happen due to no one able to pick the food up from the Paris pantry which could’ve interrupted the Roxton facility from giving out the food the next day.
“We don’t want to see anyone go without just because we can’t find a few people to help those ladies get it all unloaded,” Hubbard said.
On the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, from about 12:00-2:00 p.m., two volunteers are needed to pull a trailer from Roxton to Paris, receive the food loaded by forklift, then return to Roxton where as many people as possible can unload and shelve the food.
On the second and fourth Thursdays of each month from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., a few more volunteers are needed to help distribute the food to those in need who remain in their vehicles. Workers bring the food out and load it for them.
“The Roxton community is important and this pantry serves a lot of people who need these groceries. We don’t want to see anything get in the way of that, so we’re desperately asking some helping hands to step up,” Hubbard said. “Please spread the word.”
To volunteer, contact Hubbard at 903-737-8870 or via email: allan@downtownfoodpantry.org.
