The Rochester Housing Authority has been coordinating the Food Commodity Program in Rochester with the help of Avis Goodwin for a few years now. This is a supplemental food program for seniors earning less than 1400 month. RHA started five years ago delivering to three people in housing. We now serve 100 people both in housing and to shut-ins throughout the city because of the collaboration of volunteers. This past Tuesday, March 5th, volunteers from RHA, Avis Goodwin, SOSRCO, The Commons Church, Woven CDA, and Robert's Maine Grill delivered almost 200 thirty pound boxes to the elderly in our city. We even had 4.5-year-old Jacob help by putting a flyer in the boxes. We started at 8:30 am in 11-degree temps and finally warmed up at 10:30 when the temperature hit 23 degrees. No one was complaining! Two of our volunteers took it upon themselves to do a health check on one of the residents when they realized there were some boxes already sitting outside her door from a previous delivery. They knocked and when she answered, to their relief, they found that she just didn't move the boxes. All was well!

Many of our seniors live on tight budgets and this program helps them make ends meet. Our community is blessed by these folks with big hearts who gave a few hours on a Tuesday morning to help those living on the margins.