Food Bank Volunteer
Hall of Fame

Welcome to the Volunteer Hall of Fame! Within these hallowed walls, we will present the inside story on how, when and why our volunteers came to us!

 Owen Van Winkle, long term volunteer at the Food Bank of
 South Central Michigan, grew up on a farm in central Ohio. That's
 what set his heart towards caring for others.

 “When you grow up on a farm, there's a lot of helping each other
 happening, “ he says. “In rural areas you know your neighbors and
 you're aware of each other's needs.” Simply observing acts of human 
 kindness that were so commonplace impressed Owen and the
 lesson was well learned.

 After Owen retired from the Michigan Carton Company in 1992, it
 was former Food Bank board member Harriet Pierman who got him
 sold on volunteering for the Battle Creek non-profit, by telling him,
 “what a wonderful operation it was.”

Usually twice a week you'll find Owen hard at work in the distribution center, blending right in with the staff, pulling food orders for the Food Bank's 275 member agencies.

“It's interesting, stimulating work,” says Owen, “both working with other volunteers and with (Food Bank) employees.”

Noting the strong sense of volunteerism in the United States, and his own faith, Owen feels that “you have an obligation to serve the community that you live in. It's just a necessary thing for the well being of the community.”

Owen and his wife Mary have two daughters, Margaret and Emily, who have produced five grandchildren - perhaps future volunteers in the making.

As to why he continues to volunteer 16 years after walking through the front door for the first time, he says, “I think the Food Bank does a good job and I enjoy working there. It's a great cause.”
 

 Norm Hewitt is one the most long-standing, hard working volunteers
 at the Food Bank. And he remembers the exact date of his arrival,
 August 1, 1990 – 18 years ago! In fact, the Food Bank had moved into
 its present distribution center (in the Ft. Custer Industrial Park) less than
 10 months before Norm arrived on the scene.

 He’d been retired about six months from Consumers Energy when a
 former son-in-law suggested that Norm check out the Food Bank.

 “I began by helping to fill agency food orders 2-3 days a week,” says
 Norm. “I worked with Owen (Van Winkle another Food Bank volunteer).”

 Eventually Norm switched to helping break down bulk donations of liquid
 laundry detergent, and then, most recently began to restock the Food
 Bank’s “assorted dry” section, where agencies can pick up odds and
 ends of products. Typically this section of the Food Bank appeals to
 agencies that might not need an entire case of a particular food item.

 Norm works on this project with his cousin, Jim McDermit. It was Norm
 who encouraged Jim to volunteer at the Food Bank, keeping it in the family. “I talked to Jim during a family reunion about the Food Bank and he decided to come in.”

What keeps Norm on-the-job? “When I think about the Food Bank, I think about all the hungry people it serves,” says Norm. “Especially kids.”

Having a ready, warm smile, Norm is a natural about spreading the word about the place where he volunteers. “I talk about the Food Bank all the time. You’d be surprised. Especially when I have my (Food Bank) t-shirt on. It’s a real pleasure to volunteer out here!”
 

Lou McCowey is the sparkplug of the ‘Priceless 4’ a group of
 dedicated volunteers that come every Thursday to the Food Bank
 to help keep the ‘assorted dry’ section stocked, cull through
 grassroots food contributions, and help pick up food donations.

 Six years ago Lou had a conversation with Dick Stout (another
 member of the ‘Priceless 4’ ) who encouraged her to volunteer at
 the Food Bank. Lou’s husband, John, had good things to say
 about the Food Bank from his experience at helping decide
 corporate donations when he was working at Crooks Plumbing.
 (John also volunteers at the Food Bank along with the 'Priceless
 4.')

“He was impressed with the Food Bank and thought it’d be a good place to volunteer,” said Lou.  “I wanted something that kept me busy, something that wasn’t a desk-type job.” So she came to the Food Bank on a Thursday, met Dick, Jim McDermid and George Howard (the other members of the ‘Priceless 4’) and the rest, as they say, is history.

Lou gets the credit with creating the group’s unique moniker. One day while taking a break, she and Dick were tossing around names for the foursome, Lou came up with the ‘Priceless 4’ and the name stuck. In fact, she had special nametags made that they each wear faithfully.

Sometimes when Lou is out and about running errands, with her nametag on, people will stop and ask her: “What’s the Priceless 4?”

“We’re not just a group. We’re friends,” said Lou. In fact, twice a month Lou, Dick, George, Jim and John get together and catch up over breakfast.

As to why she’s still on the job six years and counting, Lou said: “I really like the physical aspect of the work. Volunteering at the Food Bank is fun.”

Jim McDermid  “I’m a laborer,” says Jim McDermid, a man who
 likes to keep on the go.

 For Jim, the motivation for becoming a Food Bank volunteer is as
 simple as that.

 About seven years ago (circa 2001). Jim had a conversation with
 his cousin, Norm Hewitt, who had recently retired and was a Food
 Bank volunteer. Shortly afterwards Jim came to the Food Bank and
 had another chat with Cheryl Proctor, the Food Bank’s Operations
 Manager.

 Initially Jim was put to work pulling food orders. But that wasn’t
 quite Jim’s cup of tea. “I like to be able to see that something’s been done at the end of the day when I’m working,” he said.

So, Jim’s focus switched from food orders to stocking the shelves in the Food Bank’s assorted goods section, where all grassroots food collections are kept. As you might expect, keeping the shelves stocked involves culling through various types of food and sorting them.

Growing up on the McDermid's family orchard between Battle Creek and Bellevue, Jim was no stranger to hard work. What a city bred youngster might consider daunting, Jim took easily in stride. “It was all I knew.” 27 years of orchard work was followed by seven years on a dairy farm, with 14 years at Regional Medical Lab behind Jim’s belt as well.

Jim has found reading to be a great way to wind down. Among his favorite authors is Louis L’Amour, a writer of fiction based on the Wild-West. Jim’s attracted to that genre because “it’s all about what’s over the next blue ridge. It’s the adventure of it. I open the cover and I’m there.”

Even through he's recently had hip replacement and knee surgery, slowing down is definitely not on Jim’s agenda. “As long as I’m around, I have to be doing something… preferably for other people.”

 

 George Howard is one of the most humble of the Food 
 Bank’s volunteers and probably the most low-key member of the
 ‘Priceless Four.’  Possibly that humility was birthed in his small
 town roots and the example of his mother.

 In 1950, at 19 years of age, George left home in Indiana to join the
 Army, as the Korean War was in full swing, and jobs were few and
 far between. “My mother was involved with the Four Star Mothers
 (an organization consisting of moms who had a son killed in World
 War II),” says George. “She was always helping with the lady’s
 auxiliary or the American Legion.”

 Fast forward forty years later. “I heard about the Food Bank before
 I retired (from Union Pump), says George. “I was looking for
 something to do (with my time).”

Fortunately, for the Food Bank, George began volunteering within a few months of his retirement as a machinist.

When George sat down to chat with Cheryl Proctor, the Food Bank’s Operations Director, “I didn’t know what the Food Bank was all about.” But he soon learned plenty, while helping to pull agency orders and working the assorted dry (odds ‘n ends section) of the warehouse.

George notes that he has the distinction of being the very first member of the ‘Priceless Four,’ a select quartet of volunteers who come to the Food Bank regularly and have breakfast together twice a month.

He’s a guy who thoroughly understands the basics of foodbanking. “You have to belong to an organization to get food,” he says. “We serve agencies that serve individuals in eight counties.”

Asking what keeps him coming to the Food Bank brings a ready smile to George’s face as he responds, “Well, you get to meet and know people like the ‘Priceless Four.’ We have a lot of fun when we get together.”

And after more than a decade on the job, George hasn’t lost a smidgen of his enthusiasm. He recommends volunteering to anyone because, “it helps you to know that you’re helping someone else. It makes you feel better.”

Dick Stout. Having a ready smile, quick wit and exemplary people  skills, volunteer Dick Stout is a regular Food Bank ambassador.

 He began his stint at the Food Bank about a year after
 retiring from Kellogg Company in 1996.

 Ever the go-getter, Dick says “I just walked in (to the Food
 Bank) and introduced myself.” A chat with Cheryl Proctor,
 Food Bank operations director, convinced Dick to lend his
 talents to the cause of hunger-relief. “It's been a great
 experience.”

 Initially Dick was put to work pulling food orders with George
 Howard, who had began his own volunteer experience just a week
 beforehand. (Dick and George form half of the ‘Priceless Four' a
 group of dedicated volunteers that includes Lou McCowey and Jim
 McDermid). It was Dick who extended an invite to Lou McCowey to volunteer after she had just retired from Felpausch Foods.

Nowadays, Dick and George have been put on special assignment, on the road each week picking up food donations from various retail outlets. “We really balance each other,” says Dick. George does the driving of the Food Bank van, while Dick goes inside to pick up the donations. “We work very well together.”

But it's more than a quick in-and-out sort of activity. Dick takes the time to offer a hello and a handshake and genuine thanks. In doing so, he becomes the face of the Food Bank in the day-to-day life of the community that the Food Bank serves.

“I come from a family of volunteers,” says Dick in explaining his natural enthusiasm for lending time to different causes and his ability to communicate with warmth and clarity. “My dad was a people person, but he was also serious.”

His father volunteered for World War I, and as a teenager Dick volunteered his time in various ways as well. As an adult Dick was in the Army, and his son was a Marine. He and his wife, Anita have raised a son and two daughters.

“I've been around volunteers all my life,” says Dick, when speaking about why he continues to give of his time. “I'm tickled to death to be at the Food Bank.”
 

 Ask Sharon Shoup how long she's been volunteering at the  
 Food Bank of South Central Michigan and she'll tell you the exact
 month she began: October of 2003. It was a survey of Food Bank
 donors conducted at that time that got her interested in exploring
 the volunteer side of things.

 “The Food Bank is one of the prime charities that my husband
 (Mike) and I support,” says Sharon and the volunteering became a
 way to deepen a relationship that already existed.

 Over the course of five years of volunteering, she's bagged bagels
 and pizza, put together Kids' After-School Packs, sorted through
 cereal donations, and helped with mailings to Food Bank donors.

 “I really enjoy coming out to the Food Bank,” says Sharon. “I love all the people out here and I feel so appreciated.”

Sharon's own mother did not always have enough food to eat, growing up during the Great Depression. Years later, Sharon and her two siblings were split up because of the financial strain, with Sharon living with grandparents who tended a vegetable garden. “My Mom worked very hard as a single parent to take care of us. We may not have had a lot of money, but I had enough to eat. Because of this, I've always had a special awareness of hunger.”

Her own experience has led to support hunger-relief in a very hands-on way. “An organization like the Food Bank that helps feed people definitely deserves support.”

Sharon and Mike have been married 44 years and have one daughter. They moved to Dowling from Battle Creek 12 years ago. Although Dowling is a bit of a drive, as far as Sharon's concerned, it's really not that far away from the Food Bank.

Although Sharon has a winning smile and an engaging, easy-going, helpful presence, she takes her time spent at the Food Bank very seriously. “I always make a point to tell people that I volunteer at the Food Bank. It's something that I'm very proud of.”