WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — A Wesley Chapel church food bank has grown over the years, and that growth exploded during the pandemic.
What You Need To Know
- Volunteer Carla Haberland has run the Atonement Lutheran Church food bank for 14 years
- Haberland says hundreds of families count on food from Helping Hands Food Bank each Wednesday
- The food bank needs more strong male volunteers to can pick up and upload heavy loads of food
- Want to nominate an Everyday Hero? Click here
Carla Haberland started off as the part-time temporary director at the Atonement Lutheran Church Helping Hands Food Pantry, but she has been the director for the past 14 years and overseen its growth. She volunteers five days a week now.
The food bank has hundreds of visitors every Wednesday. Haberland helps to run the car line to keep it moving efficiently.
“I’m registering people that are coming through to show they have been here for the week,” she said.
The food bank has to have proper bookkeeping to meet the requirements of Feeding Tampa Bay and the USDA that provide food.
So many cars line up for the food line that traffic can be an issue.
“Sometimes it can back up on (State Road) 54. So that’s why we have to keep the cars going,” said Haberland. She said she sometimes gets in five miles of walking each Wednesday.
Longtime volunteer Barbara Packer supervises the car line in the back of the church where people actually get their food. (Spectrum Bay News 9)
There are dozens of volunteers working each Wednesday at the church. Some of them are taking frozen food from a large freezer. Others are lined up with shopping cars to select various types of foods that will then be placed in boxes to be given to people in the car line.
Longtime volunteer Barbara Packer supervises the car line in the back of the church where people actually get their food. She admires Haberland’s dedication to the cause.
“She just cares about the people of Pasco County and the fact that so many don’t have enough food to take care of their families,” said Packer. “She’s very organized and she constantly works pretty much seven days a week.”
“It’s a challenge,” said Haberland of her work with the food bank. “It’s a lot of work. It’s gone from an easy couple of days a week to a five day a week obligation.”
After 14 years, Haberland is sticking to her mission, not quitting.
"You can’t. You know. People need you. You get tired. You know I will take a couple of days off once in a while.”
Haberland said helping hands can always use more volunteers. She said they are in particular need of strong men who can help pick up and unload heavy boxes of food.