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Feeling like 'we'
National Catholic Reporter, March 9, 2007
Low-income clients move through the grocery line at St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Church food pantry in the Los Angeles suburb of Lomita. The food tables in the parish hall are staffed by church volunteers who prepare all week for the event, which provides groceries for some 250 families. As they wait for the grocery line to begin, clients can sit, sip coffee, munch pastries and talk, says parish Christian service director Laura Nieto.
"We set up this social area with round tables for clients to linger, talk with [other] clients and volunteers," she explained. "We're building a feeling of 'we' rather than 'them and us.' We get to know our clients and their situation, and help them feel like they belong. We encourage clients to become volunteers." St. Margaret Mary is a largely middle-class, ethnically diverse parish amid neighborhoods of tidy homes. Over its 70 years, it has developed a reputation for aggressively serving the poor.
COPYRIGHT 2007 National Catholic Reporter
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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