KINGWOOD – When the pandemic began, Catholic Charities Raymond Wolfe Center’s volunteer enrollment dropped to only a few.
Now they are coming back.
“I was reflecting about how we provided the services we needed to provide,” Alix Evans, Director of Catholic Charities Raymond Wolfe Center said. “We had to change and modify how we provided the services.”
She said instead of clients coming into the building for food orders, they are being handed out at the front door. To cut down on the number of clients coming in, families were allowed to pick up food orders for other family members, as well as themselves.
“We’re not putting a large emphasis on income, our emphasis is more on food,” Evans said. “We still collect a little bit of information so we can keep track of how many and who we served.”
She said for seniors who are shut-ins and can’t pick up food orders, the Kingwood Senior Center sometimes has volunteers who can collect the orders and deliver them.
Evans said along with food, the nonprofit is able to provide pet food, personal hygiene items, coats and cleaning supplies.
“We were able to serve our clients, thanks to the United Way, Healthy Harvest, the Mountaineer Food Bank, grants, government funding, other local agencies, churches, the birthday ladies and other private donations.” she said. “Houses and More is currently doing a pet food drive for us, and the Preston County Animal Shelter helps with pet food. We also get help from Civic Groups like the Rotary Club and the Preston County Women’s Civic Club.”
She said donors and volunteers are an important part of being able to do what they do.
“We want to thank the Vietnam Veterans who help us with the Mountaineer Food Bank Deliveries,” Evans said. “We’ve been blessed with surviving and being able to provide needed services to our clients, thanks to our volunteers and the community.”
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