Meet Darleen
Darleen St. Jacques has spent over three decades with Open Pantry Community Services (OPCS), a South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC) location that provides food assistance with fresh deliveries from Spoonfuls. After starting as a volunteer for OPCS in the early 80s, Darleen later assumed the role of Program Director for their Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen, where she has witnessed firsthand the impact that hunger has on her Springfield neighbors. Read on as she shares her perspective on our partnership.
I’ve been serving food for many years now, and seeing the faces of community members in need enjoying a nice meal is what makes this work meaningful. Regular deliveries from Spoonfuls help the Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen to create those moments of joy and security around a table at mealtime.
We’re open seven days a week, including holidays and snow days, because people need to eat on Saturday just as much as they need to eat on Tuesday. Meeting that need requires a steady supply of food, and Spoonfuls plays a key role by bringing fresh produce, meat, and other foods that not everyone in our community has access to. We’ve even received steaks from Spoonfuls! Our clients get excited about that.
One day, there was a woman in line for our program who shared with me, “My little boy wants to bring a friend home after school with him, but I don’t have snacks for them.” She saw that we had berries, apples, peaches, and oranges delivered from Spoonfuls that day, and was relieved: “They’ll be happy with all this fruit to pick from.” It’s moments like that one that represent the weight of our partnership: Everyone should have food. Everyone deserves to share a snack with a friend after school.
I’m 80 years old now, and I’ve seen how much things have changed. Back when I was growing up, we still had struggles, people still experienced hunger, but the basics – housing, food – were more affordable. The economy was much stronger. It’s different today. It’s harder to fulfill one’s basic needs like food and shelter without some extra support, especially in moments when federal resources, like SNAP, can be unreliable.
That’s why we’re always asking Spoonfuls, “Please keep coming with fresh food,” and they do. We rely on Spoonfuls to fill the food gaps at our kitchen, which helps us to be a steady support for our community.