This year, we are celebrating our 25th anniversary as a parish with the theme “Blessed to be a Blessing.” I have been reflecting on how we can deepen our experience of this theme amid the pandemic when most of us stay home and very few attend Mass and church activities.

One day, I read about the Maginhawa Community Pantry in Quezon City. Instantly, the motto of the pantry caught my attention: “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan” (Give according to one’s means, take according to one’s need). This kind of freedom impressed me because it allows the people, both rich and poor, to give without obligation and honestly take what they needed out of consideration for others.

I continued to sound out relatives, friends, and people from our neighborhood. They all like the idea, and majority were attracted by the concept of “freedom” in the community pantry: giving according to one’s ability and taking based on one’s needs.

I talked about it first with four members of the committee in charge of our parish’s anniversary celebration. How amazing to find out that we all had the same ideas! However, I also reminded myself and those I talked with to be careful in our discernment since the community pantry had become the “in” thing.

The youth were also supportive except for one person who initially had misgivings. He felt that a community pantry might not be necessary since most residents of the village could afford to buy what they need. We reflected on it together by going back to previous gift-giving activities and the current situation in the area. Then, we all realized: Yes, people were working but could hardly make both ends meet. Moreover, the situation was likely to get worse because of the closure of many business establishments.

Finally, I discussed the matter with our parish priest who immediately called a meeting of the Parish Pastoral Council. Everyone supported the proposal. We agreed that the Ascension Community Pantry would depend solely on voluntary donations in cash and in kind, and it would be open to all. The pantry would not solicit, but the volunteers could tell its story to all who were interested to listen. Also, we would consciously make sure that the pantry be an opportunity to build relationship among the volunteers, donors, recipients, and the entire community, regardless of their religious, political, or other affiliations.

The first to pledge her financial support was a born-again Christian. She called one of those attending the meeting and, when she learned that we were planning to start a community pantry, immediately pledged to support it. The homeowners association officers were helping to organize the queue almost every day. Residents from different religious groups also come to help.

As I write this, we are on our 19th day of operation. We give whatever we have. Usually, it is enough for the daily consumption of a family of three, sometimes less, depending on what is available. Sometimes, in the middle of our operation, we ran short of rice, and the people would have to make do with what they can get which is, in most cases, just one or two kinds of vegetables.

One day, before we opened the pantry, we told the people that maybe we could serve only half of them. Surprisingly, the people voluntarily took only a few vegetables so that those behind them could still get something. After serving only about half of those who lined up, we ran out of rice. Suddenly, a couple came with ten sacks of rice. Everyone burst out in applause and songs! The volunteers immediately repacked the rice, and almost 400 people were served that day.

Help does not come only from those who are well off. Many good-hearted people also came forward to share. A househelp gave a plastic bag full of guavas which she said she had harvested from their front yard before going to work. Later, she joined the queue to get some food for her children. Two women, while waiting for their turn in the queue, offered four squash to the volunteers. They said they had been harvested from their garden and brought them so that they, too, could help others.

How can we forget the three women who came running, bringing three trays of eggs each on the second day? We joked about how they had changed the narrative about some women who had taken all the eggs in another community pantry.

If there is a phrase from the Gospel that can summarize these experiences of the past few days, what comes to mind is the one from Luke: “Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap” (Lk 6:38). We are certain that the Ascension Parish Community Pantry will continue to operate as long as there are people who give generously and those who get only what they need in a spirit of community sharing and solidarity.

Fer Santos