Serving their community from the heart

Photo: Picasa

Brenda Swan, Gloria Donahue and Jan Hooley, volunteers at the Servant’s Heart Pantry in Peru, are seen here with more than 30 boxes of goods to place a complete Thanksgiving meal on the table for local families of Dirigo Elementary, middle and high school students in need. (Times photo by Cherri Crockett)

PERU- Servant’s Heart Food Pantry put together more than 30 boxes last week to donate to local families of school children attending Dirigo schools and others who had signed up at the pantry.

As Brenda Swan sat in her home on that beautiful crystalline morning reading her daily devotional, she began to think of the name of their small food pantry at the Peru Community Center, Servant’s Heart, and was immediately moved to begin reading from Matthew.

“I opened right up to Matthew 20:28, and in there, Jesus is speaking and says, ‘Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.’ It was just amazing to read that and to know that later today we were going to be filling all of these boxes for families in need.”

Swan, along with help from her sister, Gloria, pantry volunteer, Jan Hooley and several others, packed the boxes with complete meals for the Thanksgiving holiday dinner.

All of this was made possible by the generous donations from Hannaford in the way of $100 gift cards for the purchase of turkeys.

“Only one turkey could be bought per person, per visit,” noted Swan. “So, you can imagine, it was quite comical to have a line of our volunteers with turkeys in their hands and passing that gift card down through the line.”

Servant’s Heart partnered with Dirigo Elementary School for another year in order to bring families in need a delightful Thanksgiving meal.

“It’s very overwhelming,” stated DES principal, Charlie Swan. “When we see all of those boxes coming through the doors and knowing that so many people need them. It’s hard to know most people’s needs, but most times it’s obvious. I’m so glad we have this resource in place and the families allow us to help.”

With assistance from teachers and other staff, the boxes are delivered to families on their way home and others arrive at the school to pick them up.

The boxes were complete with turkey, stuffing, fruit, potatoes, vegetables and even a tasty dessert.

The Servant’s Heart is located in the Peru Community Center and accepts donations of nonperishable goods, household items and monetary donations.