By Fr. Christoper Kubat
Catholic Social Services held its annual volunteer appreciation luncheon in Hastings Feb. 12. I estimate that 75 volunteers in Hastings made it to the event.
Volunteers in Hastings help with many things including answering phones; working at the front desk; helping with the sack lunch program; assisting with the food recovery program with recovered food from Russ’s Market and Wal-Mart, working at St. Joseph Gift & Thrift; helping with various seasonal food giveaway programs; baling unusable clothing; and cleaning, to name a few duties.
The menu included ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans with onions and bacon, dinner rolls, beverages and desserts. To name all of the different kinds of desserts would be beyond the scope of this article. Then there were the M&Ms at the tables. As I went from table to table to greet and thank the volunteers, I had to make sure the M&Ms were fresh and fit for consumption. They were. 
And in the words of one of the lady volunteers after asking what her job was when she volunteers, she said, “I work!”
All in all, through the Hastings office in 2017, almost 200 volunteers put in nearly 10,000 hours, at a value to the agency of nearly $90,000. In addition, I am excited to report that in 2017 we had 72 new volunteers!
To put this in perspective, our volunteer-driven food recovery program helped with the recovery of nearly 70,000 pounds of food, at a retail value of nearly $110,000. This is important because many families are living paycheck to paycheck and to receive food pantries with these food items from the recovery program, and also from food that is donated to our pantry, helps families stretch every dollar that they earn.
Another longstanding program is our volunteer-driven sack lunch program. Last year, because of dedicated CSS volunteers and volunteers at other organizations in Hastings, more than 40,000 sack lunches were distributed to people in need. This also frees up money for people’s individual and family budgets. This has been so successful we started a similar program in Lincoln.
If you feel called to volunteer in one of our four sites (Auburn, Lincoln, Hastings and Imperial) please contact us. In Imperial, you can contact Bill Sullivan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 308-882-3065; in Hastings, Jill McMahon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 402-463-2112; in Lincoln, Angela at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 402-474-1600; and in Auburn, Lana at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 402-274-4818.
Attending one of our many volunteer appreciations luncheons has always been one of my favorite things to do. Our volunteers have always had a sweet spot in my heart and are in my special prayers. Thanks to all who do so very much for Jesus Christ in the poor and needy!
