Every volunteer at Grace Packs Inc. has a specific name depending on their job description.
“Pantry Peeps” are the ones who organize and pack food bags. “Delivery Friends” pick up the bags and take the food to one of about 35 participating schools in St. Lucie County. “School Gracies” receive the food at the school.
No matter what they’re called, the volunteers all have a few things in common – they have supreme organizational skills, exude love and have a heart for the hungry, especially children.
The 501©3 not-for-profit organization provides breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack items to students who are food insecure each Friday from September through the end of May to be sure that the children will have the necessary nourishment over the weekend.
Food is organized and packed Monday and picked up on Tuesday for delivery to over 30 county schools. The bags are given to the students on Friday.
Great care is taken with the meal application process, not only to be sure that students are eligible, but also to be aware of allergies, going so far as to make sure physicians orders are at school, and by having a specific volunteers make and check the bags of the children with allergies.
“It’s kind of a lot of work on the front end,” said co-founder Laura Klosterman, who added that it’s worth the effort because it makes the process run smoothly thereafter.
Grace Packs Inc. was founded in 2011 by two Oak Hammock School employees: Klosterman, who worked as a teacher, and Lisa Ferrick, who works in the cafeteria. Both were able to recognize the telltale signs from students who suffered from hunger.
“We call it the face of hunger,” Klosterman said. She described how students would go to the school clinic on Mondays, usually with a stomachache or headache from hunger. And Ferrick could see it in the faces of students on the food line and when they would take food from the line.
“The kids show the face of hunger, and our amazing volunteers show the face of grace,” Klosterman said.
The first year Grace Packs gave out a total of 672 bags, beginning at Oak Hammock K-8. Morningside Elementary was the next to join. Today, 15 years on, 870 bags are given to students each week at participating schools.
Pat Agricola, coordinator of the “Pantry Peeps,” organizes the volunteers and deliveries. In addition to her days at the pantry, she spends a good deal of time thinking about what needs to be done. “It’s a lot of moving parts at this point,” she said.
Since volunteer Linda Chastain began in 2020, Grace Packs has collected 27,000 jars of peanut butter. And Chastain would know: She has her own special name – “Peanut Butter Ninja” – because she asks everyone she knows for peanut butter. “People have responded in a wonderful way,” Chastain said.
“It’s just wonderful because I share what we do here and people are just so happy to give,” said volunteer Sherry Bowlero, who told her bowling league about the organization and members began donating.
Grace Packs began operating out of Sunlight Community Church in Port St. Lucie in 2017 when the church offered to donate space for them to collect, pack and deliver food. The space is filled with three stations, with labeled bins stuffed with entrees, snacks, fruit and breakfast items. The food is bagged and placed in foldable metal shopping carts that are labeled with the name of the volunteer driver who will pick it up.
Donations of food, funds and volunteers are always needed and welcome at Grace Packs Inc. Expired food items are not taken. Some often-sought food items can be found on the group’s website, where there’s also a link for donations. For more information, visit gracepacks.org.