Volunteer Of The Month: Kathy Middel Brings Organization, Compassion To St. Vincent De Paul Food Pantry

Following her November 2019 retirement from the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Arnold resident Kathy Middel was eager to put her tremendous organizational skills she’d acquired as a medical laboratory scientist for 37 years to work in a volunteer role.

At her church, St. John the Evangelist, she was already serving as a Sunday Mass lector and was instrumental in starting a widow and widower ministry. Newly retired, she was ready to take on a larger role. She joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP), a Catholic organization run by lay people with a mission “to ensure those impacted by poverty have the skills, resources and opportunities to achieve their full potential.”

Her volunteer career was almost over before it began due to the pandemic shutdown early in 2020, and with it, the closure of the SVDP food pantry. When the pantry reopened late that year, Middel was thrown into the leadership role she longed for.

The former manager stepped down, and the pantry was relocated from three small rooms in the basement of the parish office building to the large blue barn located on the corner of Ritchie Highway and Cypress Creek Road. The move tripled the space SVDP had occupied in the parish office. With more space and post-COVID impacts on employment and government services, the number of people needing assistance and the number of people SVDP could serve increased exponentially.

“I took on the role of pantry manager and led the transition to a new space and much larger operation,” Middel said. “In the basement we would help three, maybe five, families in a three-hour day. Now we are serving 250 households with 950 bags of groceries every month, and we only operate eight hours a week!”

To maintain an adequate inventory of nonperishable foods, personal hygiene items, paper products, cleaning and laundry supplies, and an unpredictable intake of fresh items and donations, Middel uses her organizational skills to keep the pantry shelves full. Imagine a family’s weekly needs and multiply it by 250 to get an idea of what Middel and her team accomplish every month.

“Kathy’s heart for service and organizational skills have helped our St. Vincent de Paul food pantry to grow and meet the ever-greater needs of our community,” said the Rev. Erik Arnold, pastor of St. John the Evangelist. “Her dedication has helped our parish expand its service to those who are in need and help bring more volunteers in to assist. She is energetic in her service and it’s a source of inspiration for our parish family.”

Most of the nonperishable foods come from donations of church parishioners, but local youth and civic groups, including the St. John school, often host food or supply drives for the pantry. The food pantry is open three days a week — Monday, Tuesday and Friday — for just two or three hours at a time. Following every opening, Middel takes inventory of what items are low in stock.

On Sundays, churchgoers drop off donations, which get put on the shelves and factored into Middel’s inventory. She then creates a shopping list and uses financial donations to purchase fresh meats, produce and items of greatest need and gets them on the shelves before a new week begins.

“When I am not in the food pantry, I am shopping for food and supplies, or I’m making lists and coordinating deliveries from government agencies like the Maryland Food Bank,” Middel said. “My brother likes to say, ‘My sister is retired, but she works a full-time job she doesn’t get paid for!’ But that’s OK, I am really happy. My heart is full.”

A food pantry is mandated to maintain food handling and storage regulations, just like a restaurant or grocery store. Middel is responsible for ensuring that all food safety regulations are followed. She also makes sure volunteers are trained annually in food safety and civil rights compliance. All volunteers must maintain a valid background check and complete trainings mandated by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in accordance with serving others with safety, dignity and respect. She also maintains a task list and schedule for her volunteers, so, add human resources and state and federal compliance to her list of duties.

More than 60 volunteers make up the SVDP conference.

Middel knows it’s hard for people to ask for help, and she’s seen all sorts of situations. She doesn’t simply give people food. She gives them a friend. She sits with people, talks with them, gets to know them, and prays with them. Visitors are not clients; they are neighbors, and SVDP is here to help.

“One of the greatest misconceptions is that people who come to the food pantry or to St. Vincent de Paul for financial assistance are lazy. That is simply not true,” Middel said. “So many people are one setback away from crisis. A car breaks down, or someone falls ill, and a person can’t get to work. Money is tight and people have to make really hard decisions like, ‘Do I feed my children or pay my rent?’ These are real very difficult questions they wrestle with.”

Meeting people in desperate situations makes Middel grateful for the many resources she’s been given and the “very good life” she’s had. She lives her life knowing that “everyone has been made in God’s image and likeness,” she said. “We don’t judge. We never judge. Jesus taught us that every human being should be treated with dignity and respect, and that’s what we as Christians must do.”

To be aided by the SVDP team, neighbors must live in Severna Park, Arnold, Millersville, Pasadena or Severn. In addition to the food pantry, SVDP may provide limited financial help with utilities, prevention of eviction, and prescriptions. If you need help, or if you can help support SVDP, call 443-261-0109 or email svdp@stjohnsp.org.