Second Servings program uses leftovers to feed the community
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) -Starkville Strong volunteers are packing boxes with food for those who need a little extra help.
The Second Serving’s program is able to provide extra food for the community with donations from a sorority at Mississippi State University, and from five restaurants in Starkville.
“As everyone will tell you, the cost of groceries is going up, and it is tight,” said Shannon Voges-Haupt, Owner of Worker Bees and Committee Head of Second Servings. “It is not just homeless people who are struggling, we have families where both parents are working, and it is just tight.”
The program also accepts donations from the public.
Sarah Hutchens donated food to the program. She said it was a great way to not be wasteful, while also helping others.
“We had a small family gathering, so there were a lot of leftovers,” said Hutchens. “Since I am an environmentalist, I did not want to see that going to the land field, and I did not want to throw away food knowing that there were people in my community going hungry.”
Morgan Trice, who volunteers with Starkville Strong said it’s all about helping others.
“I love working here just because I can put my mind on other things than just my personal problems,” said Trice. “Because these meals are going out to people who have way bigger problems than I do.”
Shannon Voges-Haupt is the head of the Committee of Second Servings, and the owner of Worker Bees, where the food is packed. She said it is not just all sorts of people benefit from the leftovers.
“We recently had an apartment complex that had a fire, and we were able to take a couple of hundred meals to all those people that were displaced from the fire,” said Voges-Haupt. “We took it to the hotel that serves were putting them up in.”
Voges-Haupt said she knows first-hand just how much of a help a meal can be to someone who just lost their home.
“I actually had a fire back when I was first married in our apartment,” said Voges Haupt. “It is a crazy feeling to one minute you are sitting in your home and everything is fine, and then the next minute, you are standing outside watching everything you own burn up. You are really lost from that because your purse is gone, your clothes are gone, and your cell phone may have not made it out. You are standing there with nothing.”
“The main thing I remember when that happened to me was how relieved I felt when someone came up to me and said here is a blanket, here is a gift card go get some clothes,” said Voges-Haupt. “So, it may me feel really good to be able to be that person for them since I had been there, and someone had done it for me. ”
If you would like to help the Second Servings Program, you can donate food, containers, or even money to help the program to be able to continue to provide extra food.
