St. Vincent DePaul Volunteer Inspires Students

On Monday, September 29, Sharon Goss from The Society of St. Vincent DePaul Client Choice Food Pantry in Indianapolis, Indiana, showed Bre Sambuchino's Spanish II class one picture after another of children who visit the food pantry. Goss hangs pictures of the children on the wall in pantry's waiting area. The kids love it.

It is for these kids that Goss, in January, started a children's library in the waiting area at the pantry with books donated by individual donors, school groups and companies. But the children rarely bring the books back, so there is a constant need to replenish, and books in Spanish are particularly in demand.

Sambuchino's class is hoping to help. They are creating, writing and designing books for the pantry. At the beginning of November they will travel to Indianapolis for a service day to read their books to the children and to work at the all-volunteer facility.

"The pantry," Goss says, "provides food and self-help programs in an atmosphere of love and dignity."

With a PowerPoint presentation, Goss introduces the pantry, showing the process shoppers follow when they visit the pantry and what different volunteers do to help that process. She shows pictures of the library, pointing out the shelves. In some pictures they are filled; in others, they are empty.

Sambuchino says, "The students are excited - about the books and visiting the pantry."

A group works on their book: