CHARLOTTE — Catholic Charities and two Charlotte-area parishes, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Matthew, recently joined together to get needed food supplies to Our Lady of Guadalupe’s food pantry.
The parish in west Charlotte has recently seen a tremendous increase in food pantry clients as people have been furloughed or lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and food stocks were low. Meanwhile, St. Matthew Parish in south Charlotte had a large supply of donated food it wanted to distribute as soon as possible.
Antoinette Usher, St. Matthew’s operations and facility director, had reached out to donate the food to Catholic Charities, which also operates a food pantry in Charlotte, but everyone quickly realized that the need was greater at Our Lady of Guadalupe’s food pantry after talking with its director Yesenia Echevarría and Eduardo Bernal, Charlotte Hispanic Ministry coordinator.
For Catholic Charities’ executive director, Dr. Gerard Carter, the path was clear: “Let’s help St. Matthew get their food to Our Lady of Guadalupe as soon as possible.”
Catholic Charities’ staff Gina Cabrera and Joseph Purello helped coordinate the plans for moving the food across town. On April 24, a crew of St. Matthew faith formation volunteers drove five carloads full of nonperishable food to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Volunteers from both churches, including St. Matthew’s parochial administrator Father John Allen and Our Lady of Guadalupe’s pastor Father Gregorio Gay, C.M., stocked the OLG food pantry. Assisting the groups were seminarians Deacon Jake Mlakar and Miguel Sanchez.
“This day of charitable compassion was made possible by a team of volunteers and staff drawn from two Diocese of Charlotte parishes and Catholic Charities,” Purello noted. “It truly is a wonderful witness of the Catholic community coming together to help fight hunger and get food to those in need during these difficult times.”
To Catholic Charities came the message from Father Gay: “Many thanks to all who have made this possible!” He added, “We practiced social distancing, but it was a great moment of inter-parochial sharing.”
For Cabrera, who is a new employee at Catholic Charities, the effort filled her heart with thanks to God.
“Catholic Charities must help those in need, not only because it is our job, but because it is our duty as Christians,” she said. “Our trust is in the one who cares for us and protects us from all evil, our great and rich God of mercy, who does not abandon us but gave His life on a cross just for love of us.”
The person who got the ball rolling on this donation, St. Matthew’s Antoinette Usher, shared, “It is absolutely wonderful to see how fast this whole day happened. If this isn’t a sign of the Holy Spirit among us, I do not know what is.”
— Catholic News Herald
Pictured: Volunteers load and unload food donations from St. Matthew Church for distribution at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church’s food pantry. Father Greg Gay, C.M., pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, and Father John Allen, parochial administrator of St. Matthew Church, help unload the food donations. Catholic Charities’ Gina Cabrera carries donated boxes of cereal. (Photos provided by Gina Cabrera)
