Packing Rainbow Food Boxes - August 2013

by John Aldrich

Following delivery of the food to the warehouse, we must pack it into the Rainbow Food Boxes for delivery on the upcoming food runs. This is one of the major work events of the year at ANE and took place on the last two Saturday mornings.

The scenario remains relatively constant from food packing to food packing - volunteers circle the warehouse with shopping carts to fill the boxes with the designated items, filled boxes are taped shut and receive their labels, and the boxes are stacked by food run area.

What makes each food packing day unique is the mixture of people that show up to help with the work. Although there are many faithful volunteers who come reliably each time, there are always some new faces as well. We hope that these people will return to become regular volunteers.

Two of the new faces this time belong to a pair of very nice young brothers, Cristian and Ulices Garcia. They have been regulars at Tuesday and Friday volunteer days this summer, but this was their first food packing.

These fine boys belong to Saints Peter and Paul parish in West Valley City where community service is a priority for young people. ANE is one of the non-profits on their list, and they chose us. This was our good fortune as they have been dedicated workers. School will be starting soon, and we will lose them to the demands of school work. We wish to thank them for their service and congratulate them for the fine example they set.

Although they are still very young Kade and Zoe count as seasoned volunteers by now. With Kade supervising Jello distribution and Zoe helping load boxes, these two bring smiles everywhere they go.

Other faces include:

Regular volunteers Sandy and Dean Sanders helped to break down the empty boxes.

When the pile of cardboard started inching toward the top, it needed to be compacted. Shawn Acerson and Zoe found that using the pile as a trampoline served as more than just a practical matter.

Veteran volunteers Jerry and Louise Sedlevicius are regulars at circling the warehouse to load boxes.

Kate Maxwell Stephens often recruits some of her students at Salt Lake Community College to help.

And during the first week there were cedar bead necklaces for first time volunteers.

Josh Gregory returned with his mother, Tiffiny. Josh performed his Eagle Scout project on behalf of ANE in the spring, and it was good to see him again.

Another dependable veteran, Ray Coleman, helped to be sure that all of the Rainbow boxes were stacked and labeled properly.

As the last of the boxes were being stacked, we see a portion of the array that must be transported to the reservation for the food runs. We sincerely thank everyone who helped with this big job over the last two weeks.

We still need drivers for the food runs, so, if you have an SUV or truck and would like to help, you can find out more through the volunteer activity page of our web site.