A Little Kindness Twice a Week Every Week

The spirit of giving and helping comes to full fruition every year during the holidays.  Schools mount food drives, clubs collect food and toys for the needy and citizens offer time and toys and pie to help those local saints, Sandi Digangi and Eddie Memishi of , provide 1,000 Christmas free dinners to any who want it. Such kindness makes a happier holiday for givers and receivers.

My hat also goes off to all who help the needy week in and week out all year long.  Russ and Grace Pluhar have been running the Community Food Pantry at Pilgrim Faith Church in Oak Lawn for over 15 years. Dozens of pantry volunteers serve dozens of families twice a week, every week of the year. 

It is totally a labor of love. Pantry workers all donate their time.  All the food is donated by area churches, schools, businesses, organizations and individuals. 

Russ Pluhar, a retired sheet metal worker, picks up bread and bakery goods from local stores and arrives early every Tuesday and Friday to set up. He oversees an array of volunteers who sort and shelve food, pack bags, check in clients and a host of other behind the scenes tasks. Then Russ packs up any left over baked goods to give to another pantry, often delivering them himself. On many other days he picks up donated food and gets a head start on packing bags. We long ago lost count of how much time he gives so that others can eat.

His wife, Grace Pluhar, retired from teaching in local schools, helps with scheduling, regularly works the desk, writes all the thank you’s and keeps everyone laughing.

Hurray for the Pluhars and countless like them everywhere, who keep the kindness coming all the time!