service
GRATEFUL TO ASSIST B
rown corrugated cardboard boxes stacked high on pallets around the warehouse were filled to capacity with boxes of uncooked pasta, bags of pinto beans, and cartons of lactose-free milk. On either side of a row of tables, Rockcastle County High School (RCHS) students mingled their conversation and laughter with volunteers from Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) as they prepared for the monthly distribution of commodities to elderly residents in the county who are low income. The Honors Club students, clad in t-shirts and jeans; one with a baseball cap flipped on backwards, bantered back and forth as they arranged items for the assembly line that would soon run like a well-oiled machine. One by one each student took his or her place in line to pick an item, pack an item, slide the box. Pick an item, pack an item, slide the box until full. Hand to classmate, place on stack. Move to the back of the line. Then repeat.
The students replicated this process over and over until one box became two, and two boxes became ten, and ten boxes became the 180 commodity boxes filled with supplemental food. Helping earnestly in the background was Elizabeth Stevens, their faculty advisor. Stevens has been surrounded by CAP’s mission for more than two decades. Her mother, Sharon Goff, is the current manager of CAP’s Child and Family Development Center in Mt. Vernon and has worked for CAP for 24 years. This was the second time Stevens brought her students to CAP’s Grateful Bread Food Pantry to serve. “It’s important for students to be involved in their community,” she said. Stevens believes it is important for her students not only to excel academically, but also to be given opportunities to learn the importance of community service right in their own backyard. “Volunteering with CAP allows my students to have first-hand experience in
(left) Students from Rockcastle County High School Honors Club fill commodity boxes (right) which may include a variety of foods, such as nonfat dry and ultra high-temperature fluid milk, juice, oats, rice, pasta, peanut butter, and dry beans. 12
christianapp.org/MtSpiritGive | SPRING / SUMMER 2018
