Nov 30, 2013 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – A little more than a year ago, Corner Cupboard Food Bank in Waynesburg was in trouble. The holidays were fast approaching and its warehouse was empty except for pallets containing Ziploc baggies, a few dozen boxes of cheese and cases of bottled water.

Close to 6,000 Greene County residents rely on assistance from the food bank to make it through the winter months. In September 2012, weeks after the public was made aware of the dire straits faced by these people with an empty food bank, an emergency food drive took place. It exceeded all expectations of food bank director Jan Caldwell.

“I am very good at stretching the dollars that come in to get the most food for the money. This year there hasn’t been a large-scale food drive, but the donations have never really stopped from last year,” Caldwell said. “I have always said the people of Greene County will take care of their own and they have not let me down. I am so pleasantly surprised at the magnitude of the donations from businesses and organizations that continue to come in each day.”

Donations large and small have trickled in steadily since Alpha Omega Communications of Washington County organized the emergency food drive in 2012.

“With what we got this year, I made it through Thanksgiving. We needed 1,000 turkey vouchers and got 503 but the individual pantries in the county made up the difference so every family got a turkey,” Caldwell said. “We’re empty again right now, but the trucks are coming in on Monday and the Christmas stuff will all be in. Each child in a family gets a treat bag for Christmas with nutritional snacks.”

Caldwell flipped through a registry of donations received this year that have made it all possible. She has kept the notes that came attached to them.

“I opened an envelope today with a check for $10,000 and a note from R.G. Johnson,” Caldwell said. The note said they were “pleased and thankful that even in this uncertain coal economy” they could contribute. “We always need money, but somehow the people of Greene County and neighboring Washington County come through every time.”

Caldwell said she is continually humbled by those who have so little giving from the heart to help others in need. A 95-year old woman has been the epitome of how good people have been, Caldwell said.

“I will never forget when that car pulled up in front of the courthouse at the end of the food drive last year. The woman’s daughter got out and opened the trunk of the car to donate a case of peanut butter from her mother,” Caldwell said. “The elderly woman donating it had nothing. She purchased it with her own food stamps. She said the Lord had blessed her throughout her life and she wanted to help others. That will be with me for the rest of my life.”

Caldwell has set a personal goal for Greene County to be the first hunger-free county in the state of Pennsylvania.

“Even little Graysville Elementary School, which is probably located in one of the poorest areas of the county, donated 1,344 pounds of food. Bless their little hearts. Penn Land Resources, a new company formed from people who lost their jobs in the bad economy, donated $2,000,” Caldwell said.

The note attached said, “Every time I go past the fairgrounds and I see all those lines of people waiting for food it bothers me.”

“The Rotary club, ambulance service, Lions club, Alpha Natural Resources, William’s Foundation, churches, individuals; there have been so many generous heartfelt donations and I cannot thank them enough. We are really going to be OK,” Caldwell said.