Yesterday Cathy and I delivered the council’s $500 check to The
Francis Center. While there we met Don
Gainer. Don, a volunteer at the time,
took over as Director when the Franciscan priest running the center was unable
to continue due to illness. He remained
in that capacity until 2016 when the current Director, Rudy Grigar, assumed the
role. Don had many stories to share
about his days as director as well as the current activities at the center.
The Francis Center is a non-profit food and clothing pantry operated
100% by volunteers. There are no paid employees. I can’t remember all of statistics quoted by
Don during our conversation yesterday so here are some for the month of November
I copied from their web site: 60 volunteers worked over 1100 hours to provide
food boxes to 654 families (1,808 people) and clothing for 145 people.
The coats we donated last fall have all been distributed.
