River of Refuge newsletter, July 2024

Raytown Summer Meal Program Benefits River of Refuge Families

River of Refuge administrative assistant, Cathy Alvarez-DeCamp, left, captures a moment with Mitsi Salisbury, a volunteer director with a summer meal program that provides groceries to families with children in the Raytown school district. Alvarez-DeCamp was picking up groceries for ROR families on July 9.

School meals are lifelines for low-income families, but the need remains when classes dismiss for the summer.

About two dozen volunteers work to fill that gap among families in the Raytown school district, including those living at River of Refuge, through a drive-up program they operate on Tuesdays out of Raytown Christian Church, 6108 Blue Ridge Blvd.

A River of Refuge representative picks up grocery bags for its residents. Program leaders also donated children’s books to ROR when they became available from elementary schools.

ROR families are working through difficult situations, said volunteer Mitsi Salisbury, “and we want to do whatever we can to lighten their load and help them and their children have healthy meals so that they can focus on what they need to do to get in a more permanent situation.”

A seventh-grade math teacher in the Blue Springs school district, Salisbury is one of four educators who serve as directors for the summer food program. The other three women work in the Raytown school district.

Each grocery bag — packed and distributed by volunteers — includes eight servings each of breakfast and lunch plus sides, dessert, fruit, vegetables, and a half gallon of milk. Families with eight or more members get two bags.

The volunteers distribute about 150 bags per week, and at about $18 per bag, the summer program costs about $30,000. Program leaders fund the program through contributions from churches and other donors along with some grants.

The money goes toward buying the groceries. Restaurants that donate food include Panera, Applebee’s, Jimmy John’s and Doughboys Donuts.

The summer meal program has been operating for nearly two decades, Salisbury said, and at one time volunteers packed approximately 500 lunches each day for about six weeks.

They stuck with the weekly drive-up pantry after instituting it when the pandemic shut down schools in 2020.

Salisbury started volunteering with the program seven years ago when she was looking for service opportunities for her son, who had just finished sixth grade.

“Being a teacher, I know how not having food stability affects children,” she said. “Their brains can’t function as well. They are focused on not feeling full and worrying about where their next meal might be.”

Salisbury said It is gratifying to help fill that gap for these families and put parents’ minds at ease that, ‘Hey, I know that this is coming every week, and my kids are going to have something to eat.’”

If you are interested in helping with the summer lunch program, email the directors at raytownsummerlunch@gmail.com or contact them through their Facebook page.

 

River of Refuge Not Anxious to Have These New Residents Fly The Coop

Aimee Fields, a night/weekend manager at River of Refuge, helps her 3-year-old daughter Haddie get to know Ethel, one of the five hens recently donated to River of Refuge.

River of Refuge is used to welcoming new residents who need a safe place to stay while they achieve financial stability. But some recent arrivals didn’t even need an apartment.

ROR is now home to five laying hens (and their coop) donated in late June by an Independence, Missouri, woman who knows Senior Case Manager Dianna Poston. The woman wanted ROR to have them because she was no longer healthy enough to care for them.

Nameless when they arrived, the ladies are now known as Gertie, Hazel, Mabel, Lucy, and Ethel — thanks in part to 3-year-old Haddie Fields, daughter of the couple that works as night/weekend managers for our second-floor units.

The offer to Poston was unexpected, but ROR Executive Director Pam Seymour has long contemplated having chickens on the property. One hesitation has been the time and expense of caring for the animals, but Poston’s excitement added to Seymour’s inclination to accept the donation.

Seymour knows firsthand how calming and therapeutic it can be to care for chickens, and that was something she wanted to offer to ROR families, especially the children.

“Chickens are pretty hardy and they are fun,” she said. “They make wonderful sounds, and they eat anything, so it’s a good way to have the kids out and feed them and just interact with them.”

The hens can teach kids how to be comfortable around animals other than cats and dogs, Seymour said, and their eggs will complement the nutrition education families are already getting by eating (and tending to) the raised-bed gardens at ROR.

Seymour said the good thing about chickens is that a peck is about as harmful as they can be, but it will still require management to ensure families and children safely interact with the animals.

In the future, Seymour would like a bigger coup to make it easier to collect the eggs. She would also like a fully enclosed pen to protect the chickens from predators.

But the experience so far has been egg-cellent.

 

FROM THE DIRECTOR

One of the most famous quotes about the value of volunteerism comes from Mahatma Gandhi, who said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

From my many years of nonprofit leadership, I can attest to the importance of that spirit of service to others. That is especially true of River of Refuge, which runs a 24/7 operation with a six-person staff, two of whom are part-time.

In 2023 alone, River of Refuge benefited from roughly 1,700 hours of volunteer service. That equated to approximately $54,000 worth of work based on estimated wages for the services they provided.

Some volunteers come and go — and that’s OK. Other people have more time to give and serve for a long time.

But there are precious few volunteers like my good friend Gwen. She is the Super Glue of volunteers, sticking with me even as I moved here in 2020 from my previous executive director position.

Gwen worked with me as a program manager several years ago. She then retired and served as a valued board member for that organization for a few years.

Gwen doubled her impact at River of Refuge by recruiting her husband John.

Before moving out of town earlier this year, John and Gwen would arrive at River of Refuge from the Northland most Thursdays at 10 a.m. They would spend four hours here, mostly sorting, organizing, and stocking our pantries.

Their work made a huge impact for staff and the families served by the food and clothing pantries.

Their move to Vermont was the realization of their dream to be close to their daughter and two granddaughters.

Gwen and I keep in touch, and we are forever grateful for the dedication to River of Refuge that she and John provided.

Happy retirement, John and Gwen! We love and appreciate you. Please let us know when you’re in town and looking for something to do.

Until Next Time,
Pamela Seymour, Executive Director