Every Friday morning residents of the District of Columbia’s predominantly Hispanic Mt. Pleasant neighborhood arrive by the dozens at the doors of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart looking for food assistance. Led by Carola Cerezo volunteers deliver bags of groceries and basic necessities to the needy beginning at 10 a.m. They do this in response to Pope Francis’s call to help the hungry and assist them in a dignified manner.
Distribution of free food to homeless or low-income families is not new to The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, for many parishes make efforst to help those who struggle to survive in harsh situations due to illness, unemployment, or those who are in the process of rejoining the community.
Hunger and lack of enough income to buy food to keep an acceptable level of nutrition affect many families, so they come to parish food banks seeking a means to alleviate their shortages, Cerezo explained.
Every week parish volunteers unload, sort, and distribute food boxes to 350-400 families, said Cerezo. “Because demand is very high, we are always asking good-willed people to donate non-perishable food staples, including rice, beans, cereal, peanut butter, canned tuna or chicken, noodles, tomato sauce, canned milk, vegetables, and baby food,” she added.
The volunteer in charge of overseeing the weekly food distribution process said that donations can be dropped off at the parish, at 3211 Sacred Heart Way N.W. “Any donation, large or small, is good. We need to replenish our food pantry weekly. We always rely on Father Emilio Biosca’s cooperation” she said. The Franciscan priest is the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish.
The work of volunteers and the support of Catholic Charities of Washington let needy people know that some type of food assistance can be found in parishes such as St. Catherine Labouré, Mother Seton, Our Lady Queen of the Americas, St. Mark the Evangelist, Our Lady of Lourdes, and even the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
In various homilies and apostolic letters to international aid agencies, Pope Francis repeatedly urges everyone to think of the many “hungry people” now trying to survive in the world. He underscores that food must be shared, that fruits given to us by God out of a fertile soil cannot be wasted and that food left over on the family table cannot be considered “private property.”
He also points out that many parts of the world have nothing to eat: “How many mothers and fathers, even today, go to sleep at night with the great affliction of not having enough bread to give their children the next day. We can imagine this prayer is uttered not in the security of a comfortable home, but in the precariousness of a poor room in which people have to adapt to not having enough to live.”
