Meet a Community Partner: Margaret Young, Calvary Church

May 19, 2022

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, we have distributed more than 35 million pounds of food to Delawareans in need! This work is not possible without out network of community food pantries! Margaret Young is the Benevolence Director at Calvary Church in Dover! 

Tell us a little about how you partner with the Food Bank of Delaware:  I coordinate the Food Bank’s mobile pantries here and our Calvary Emergency Food Pantry.

How many volunteers help you keep things running smoothly? We have 87 volunteers; we need 80-100 volunteers to take care of 80-100 cars.

You’ve been doing this a long time. How has the COVID pandemic impacted this ministry? I’ve noticed a demographic change. We see more older people, fewer under age 17. We also have a few more volunteers. People have really stepped up.

We’ve shifted. Another change is we do home delivery to people who need it, mostly our seniors. On Tuesday and Thursdays, we do emergency food. This past month, we served 104 families through emergency, 105 seniors and 85 through the mobile pantry. Seniors are our heavy day.

Can you talk a bit more about that? We want our seniors to feel loved. Some people are lonely or scared; they want someone to talk to. Some people are living in a hotel; they may not feel safe. Our donors are really generous, really good. We have a good community effort. For our seniors, for example, they asked for more vitamins, for crackers, and for prune juice. We got donations from everywhere.

Click here to learn more about becoming a partner of the Food Bank of Delaware!