By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – As the holiday season moves on from Thanksgiving into Christmas, food bank operators in the St. John Parish area say the shelves are still fairly full and donations have not slowed.

“We have four 12-foot-long shelves that really stay full throughout the year,” said Lee Crayon, head of charitable services for Ascension of Our Lord Church and supervisor for the church’s food bank. “We have a pretty easy time keeping a wide variety of items in stock all year long. We do, of course rotate out food that becomes old and stale and past the expiration or ‘best by’ date on the package so that the stock remains fresh all year.”

Crayon said the church does a good job of collecting all year long. He said most of the donations come after mass.

“People are really generous at Ascension of our Lord,” Crayon said. “We have a very giving group.”

A similar story can be told at St. John Ministry of Care, where Thanksgiving food deliveries have just wrapped up.

“It doesn’t slow down one bit,” said volunteer Sharon Hilt. “We are gearing up to make up about 120 food baskets for needy families in the area.”

Marsha Mabile, a food bank volunteer and caseworker, said the sour economic outlook over the past year has produced a large number of new cases of families in need.

“These are people who have never been to a food bank for assistance,” Mabile said. “We are also getting a lot of cases that come in for regular help. We have a large back stock, but the food does go fast. It doesn’t take long for a dozen bags of food to be picked up.”

Although the need has increased, other volunteers at Ministry of Care say that there is rarely a shortage.

“People in this area give and give generously,” said food bank coordinator Sing Borne. “You always hear of shortages at food banks across the region, but not here. A lot of that has to do with the relationships we have with the schools and businesses in the area.”

Hilt said the group also partners with the industrial plants, who adopt families during the holidays to make sure they have enough of everything.

“The plants give toys, food baskets and gift cards for grocery stores,” Hilt said.

In addition to the regular food bank, Crayon said the volunteers at Ascension of Our Lord also contribute time to a church program serving the elderly in the parish.

“It’s called ‘Hearty Meal,’” Crayon said. “We prepare full meals every Thursday and deliver the food to those who can’t get out of the house. We usually stay within the church parish, but we can’t ever turn anyone away.”

Despite the generous nature of the region, Both Crayon and Borne said the food banks still have specific food needs.

“We get a lot of canned vegetables and canned fruits, but we always seem to be in need of canned meats,” Borne said. “We also have trouble getting peanut butter and cereals, which are often more expensive to donate.”