Volunteers Shop for Food for Those in Need at Owen's
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Not everyone will have the funds to put food on their table this Christmas with increased food prices and job losses.
Hundreds of volunteers spent three hours Wednesday night shopping at Owen’s Supermarket, 2211 E. Center St., to purchase food for those in need.
The food will be distributed next week to Warsaw Community High School, Jefferson and Eisenhower Elementary schools, Our Father’s House and Combined Community Services.
School officials provided a list of students’ names whose families would benefit from the food.
The event was called “Super Market Sweep-Shop ’Till You Drop” and it was the first year for the event.
Volunteers from Grace College, Mission Point Community Church, New Horizon Community Church, DePuy Orthopedics, Biomet and WCHS and the community purchased food using money from their own pockets.
Mission Point Community Church and New Horizon Community Church donated gift cards Grace College students used to purchase food for those in need, in addition to their own money.
The first 200 shoppers were given complementary cookies and hot chocolate.
Local businesses donated raffle items participants could win.
The food items that were purchased Wednesday night were then dropped off outside the store where they were loaded onto a semi-truck for sorting and packaging.
DePuy donated the semi truck and employees to purchase food and load items into a semi. DePuy and Mission Point Community Church volunteers will sort the items.
DePuy also collected funds to purchase food and held a canned food drive at work to take part in the efforts.
Family Video employees donated hams.
Participants were given shopping lists with suggested items when they arrived for fixings for Christmas dinner.
There were drawings for prizes every half hour as a way to say “thank you” to the participants.
Mike Payton, Owen’s assistant manager, said the business was honored to be the site for the event.
“We are very happy to be a part of the community and provide tonight’s shoppers with suggestions for holiday buying and offered discounts on items,” Payton said.
Kearstin Criswell, Grace College student activities coordinator, came up with the idea for the event after watching the show “Supermarket Sweep.”
“I worked with our student director to find a way for students to give back and came up with the idea for students to buy food for those in need,” Criswell said.
Mae Roede, a sophomore Biblical studies major at Grace College, said she was glad to participate in the event.
“As Christians it’s important to show the love of Christ to others and we wanted to do whatever we could to help those in the community in need,” Roede said.
Matt Hoskins, Mission Point Community Church member, said it was a unique experience.
“Most people give money and have canned food drives, but this allows us to participate in the buying of food to help others,” Hoskins said.
Kondo Simfukwe, Mission Point Community Church pastor, said he was glad the church could participate in the event.
“The purpose of the night is to see the community band together and buy enough food to provide hundreds of area families with Christmas meals as a gesture of community care,” Simfukwe said.
There was $13,000- $15,000 spent on food for those in need, Simfukwe said.
