Maria Duran on Catholic Radio

The Food Pantry at St. John XXIII Catholic Community has provided the parish with a great way to reach out and serve the needs of the community. For years, the parish has provided food on Thursday mornings (9 am-Noon) to families in the Montgomery-Tramway area and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to food distributions in March. At that time, the pantry was serving about 200 individuals each Thursday.

Maria Duran, who volunteers as coordinator of the social concerns ministry (including the pantry) at St. John XXIII, said the closure was difficult for clients, many of whom were working families living in the Northeast Heights. But some individuals also came from Cedar Crest in the East Mountains and from the South Valley. "The focus is the hidden poor that we service that are in the northeast heights," Maria said in an interview with host Mary Woods on the Archbishop's Hour radio show.

The inability to serve the public was also hard on the volunteers. "It weighed heavily on all of us when the churches were closed.  My whole team and I were praying that we could figure out a way to open up our food pantry," she said.

*Maria Duran (second from left)

When things started to open,  the St. John XXIII pastor, Rev. Tai Pham, approached Maria about reopening the pantry.  "Father Tai, who is our wonderful pastor, said 'I do want the food pantry open'," noted Maria. 

The volunteers reached out to the community, and clients gradually started to return. Volunteers now serve about 100 individuals on Thursdays while continuing to practice social distancing guidelines. 

Listen to the interview, where Maria also mentions the parish's support for the Interfaith Hunger Coalition. There are other announcements and an interview with another individual before Mary begins her conversation with Maria, starting just before minute 32.  

*Photo: Maria at a fundraiser benefiting the St. John XXIII Pantry and Rio Grande Food Project. Also pictured are Ari Herring from the RGFP, Kathy Freeze from Catholic Charities and Sandy Gaudet, former St. John XXIII pantry coordinator).