St. Olaf students fill food bank shelves

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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At the Ladies of Charity food pantry in North Salt Lake on Feb. 16, St. Olaf Catholic School students unload and shelve donations they collected during their Souper Bowl of Caring.

NORTH SALT LAKE — The eighth-grade class from Saint Olaf Catholic School in Bountiful took a break from their normal P.E. class on Feb. 16 to fill the shelves at the Ladies of Charity Center of Hope Food Pantry in North Salt Lake.

The students came in vehicles loaded with more than 2,000 pounds of food donated by their school community during the Souper Bowl of Caring. This national food drive is held around the time of the Super Bowl, the annual National Football League championship game, which this year was Feb. 11.

The recent food drive was just one of the many ways in which St. Olaf School gives back to the wider community, said Eric Verdi, physical education teacher. While other fundraisers at the school help different organizations, the decision was made for the food pantry to benefit from the Souper Bowl of Caring collection because of an appeal by Daughter of Charity Sister Germaine Sarrazin, the pantry’s executive director, who also volunteers at St. Olaf’s.

Sr. Germaine “is just a big presence at our school,” Verdi said. “She came to us and said, ‘We might be running a little low [at the food pantry],’ and we said, ‘We might be able to help you out.’”

As one incentive to participate in the food drive, the prize for the class that brought in the most items was a week of free dress, “so it really pushed the kids to participate in this and get all of this,” said eighth-grader Ava McFall on Feb. 16, standing next to a table piled with boxes of ramen, Stove Top stuffing and Welch’s fruit snacks, as well as canned soups, fruits and vegetables.

Though the second-grade class “was hitting it hard,” McFall said, at the last minute the kindergarten class brought in 7,000 items and won the free dress day.  

Arriving at the food pantry, the students unloaded bags and boxes of canned food and carried them inside. After weighing them, they placed the items on the shelves. As the food filled the shelves, one student said, “This is good; people are getting fed.”

Though the shelves were full when the students left, they will soon be empty because of the hundreds of families who come for food, said Bobby Earl, past president of the Ladies of Charity, which operates the food pantry. Last month they served 2,313 individuals from 420 families.

In the past couple of weeks, Saint Vincent de Paul and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic schools, both in the Salt Lake area, also donated to the food pantry, but even with these contributions the Center of Hope can’t keep up with the demand; last month, in addition to their regular clients they had 56 new registrations, Earl said. Although they have a grant from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bishops’ storehouse that supplies milk and eggs every week, as well as donations from Costco and other places, “Everything is short right now” because “it’s just tough for everybody,” she said.

Nevertheless, the momentarily full shelves made Earl smile. “We actually have some good food for people to choose from this time. That’s amazing. [Recently] it’s been to the point where we’ve had no canned meat, very little stuff like chili,” and no cereal, peanut butter, baking goods or condiments.

The food pantry is always in need of nutritious food items such as canned tuna and meats, peanut butter, soups, fruits, vegetables, rice, beans and pasta, she said. They also accept fresh fruits and vegetables.

The food pantry is located at 74 S. Orchard Dr., North Salt Lake. Donations may be dropped off during operating hours: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Monday, 4 to 6 p.m. and Wednesday, 3 to 6 p.m. Outside of those hours, donations may be arranged by calling the pantry to arrange a drop off. To donate by credit or debit card, visit https://www.ladiesofcharitynorthernutah.org/.