WACO, Texas — John Russ is blind, but it’s not stopping him from volunteering with Shepherd’s Heart with his wife by his side.
"It’s something I feel like I give back to my faith and to my self-being," Russ said.
He’s one of many volunteers who have made a difference over the last year through the faith-based pantry.
Shepherd's Heart Executive Director Bob Gager told 25 News' Bobby Poitevint that the need in the Central Texas community continues to grow.
“Through November, we have served over 88,000 families though mobile distributions," Gager said.
"We do 18 mobile distributions a month — we’ve got seven schools that we have pantries in and we serve. We’ve got 1,100 seniors that we serve food to twice a month, and it just keeps going on and on."
Gager says they can also use toys for their "Toys from the Heart" drive, which is getting ready to wrap up.
"We’ll be at the Walmart on Sun Valley in Hewitt this Saturday, picking up and collecting toys for a couple of hours.”
Gager says toys for girls in the ages of nine to 15 are needed, and will likely run short.
"Last year we served 2,436 kids — I don’t know what that number is going to be this year," he said.
"We expect it to be a strong number, just because the number of people that we’ve served this year is growing substantially — we’re 33 percent ahead of last year.”
Shepherd's Heart also accepts monetary donations — Gager says they really help, because they can then buy toys that are still needed.
Click here to learn how to help.
