Reflecting on Community Solidarity
Community Solidarity continues to be a place where St. John’s parishioners find themselves volunteering time and time again. The overwhelming need for food across Long Island has increased at a rate of 5x over the past couple of years. Community Solidarity continues to see hundreds of cars each day and night, with people graciously waiting for their boxes of food, sometimes for as long as two hours.
The holiday season brought with it additional need for people to help pack and distribute a surplus of food, as well as toys, games, and warm clothing before Christmas. We are always excited when parishioners join on Tuesday evenings when they can, but are even more thrilled when new families come and experience Community Solidarity for themselves. It really does continue to prove to be such an enriching experience for all ages.
After attending for the first time, parishioner Devon Carroll says, “TW (her son) and I were moved by the experience. We happened to pick a night where it was raining. We worked feverishly to pack the boxes to the brim. Seeing the local groceries and produce supplied to this amazing effort was very inspiring. It made us both realize how fortunate we are in our daily lives, but also fortunate to live in such a wonderful community. It really brought a new meaning to Thanksgiving and Christmas for our family.”
While Community Solidarity welcomes volunteers any night of the week all around Long Island, they are set up locally in Huntington Station every Tuesday. The St. John’s Outreach Committee has planned the following dates to attend for anyone interested. Please consider joining us and as always, dress for the weather!
Tuesday, February 27th - 7pm
Tuesday, March 19th - 7pm
To find out more about Community Solidarity and the wonderful work they are doing to try to lessen the growing problem of food insecurity, please visit their website https://www.communitysolidarity.org/.