It seems that the local food pantry, run and housed by community churches, no longer had a site to provide its vital ministry, so several members of St. Anthony Parish teamed up to find the pantry a new home.

“People needed their space back,” said Gabriel Aguirre, president of the parish’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which administers of the food pantry.

“We hear so many stories about people in need, reaching out and not finding that need fulfilled,” he said. “It’s important that St. Vincent de Paul is a door that is always open.”

Aguirre was recruited to his leadership role by Sandy Meneni, a longtime Society of St. Vincent de Paul member.

Father Michael Canny, pastor of St. Anthony, asked Meneni several few months earlier to assist in breathing new life into the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul ministry, which had dwindled to a couple of members.

Bill Hallerman, president of the Sacramento District Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, was invited to the parish to assist in the reorganization effort.

Revitalized St. Vincent de Paul members decided since there was no space available to house the food pantry in the church, they would renovate an old garage located on church property. Hearing about the need to fund the project, Karen Dettman, president of the St. Anthony bingo committee, said committee members went to work organizing a raffle which raised $3,000.

“The generosity of people was amazing,” Dettman said. “Once it started to roll, people just came together.”

Parishioner Jerry Hurt, a retired California Highway Patrol officer known for his carpentry skills, spearheaded the effort and enlisted some of his friends, including three retired Highway Patrol officers, to work on the renovation project.

“A lot of people have come forward and have stepped up to the plate,” Hurt said.

One of them was Sandy Meneni’s husband, Aldo Meneni. “There are a lot of homeless here, high unemployment, people needing help, so we were going to make a silk purse out of that building,” said Meneni of the project, which required replacing the garage door, floor and siding, electrical installation and rebuilding the foundation.

Aguirre said other parish groups, including the Knights of Columbus and the youth group, which is doing a food drive, have also stepped forward to lend their support.

While the renovation project, begun in September, is being completed, parish secretary Kathleen Armstrong has been greeting people who come knocking on the church door, hoping to find a bit of food to fill their hunger.

She hands out coupons good for sandwiches at a local deli as well as bags of food items. “Now there are local people stopping by,” Armstrong said. “Food is the last thing they get. The first is heat and a place to stay.”

Father Canny said the restoration project will be completed and the food pantry open before Christmas.

“This is a wonderful blessing for the parish to have a food pantry and for the community as a whole,” he said. “It’s something we needed to do as Christians and brought a lot of people together.”

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