In love and compassion Love Center convey thanks to volunteers
by Dave MastThe board of directors of the Love Center Food Pantry got together for the annual banquet on Monday, Jan. 25, to rejoice together and thank God for being faithful to the mission outreach, as well as thanking those community members who serve as volunteers for the center.
The banquet, held at Gateway Fellowship Church in Millersburg, included a catered meal by Log Cabin Catering, guest speaker Dan Flowers, president of the Akron-Canton Food Bank, which works hand in hand with the Love Center, and a great deal of thanks and gratitude to those who faithfully volunteered over the year to help provide for needy families.
“No one person can do the things we do,” said founder Pastor Larry Hasemeyer. “It takes a great number of selfless people to make this work, and you as volunteers are the backbone of what we are accomplishing here. We meet a tremendous amount of need, even though we are a most blessed county. It takes people working hand in hand, real teamwork, to make the Love Center a success.”
Hasemeyer said that each volunteer plays an integral role in the Love Center, with each person taking their place on stage, perhaps not knowing exactly how they will bless a family when they come in.
He said that the word volunteer doesn’t truly sum up what those who give of their time in love and compassion do for the Love Center.
He said rather it is by people helping people, friends helping friends, that the center becomes a real blessing to others.
“It’s difficult to try to make a difference on our own, but together, we can reach out and share God’s love in very tangible ways,” said Hasemeyer. “We are diverse people coming together for a common purpose, which is to feed the hungry and to show God’s love.”
Service has always been at the core of the Love Center. Since its inception more than two decades ago, and through the years of intense growth, those who give of themselves in service to others through the Love Center have provided blessings, and in turn have been blessed themselves.
It has been that willingness to put others before themselves that has propelled the Love Center to new heights. It is that same selflessness and vision by Hasemeyer that began the Love Center years ago.
What it has added up to is one of the county’s most beloved outreach missions.
Hasemeyer said it has been those working together as one that has made the Love Center what it is, noting that it is those who have working with those who have not; those who can working with those who can’t.
“We’re all in this together,” said Hasemeyer. “We speak to people’s level of dignity and importance.”
For Mark and Dorothy Rohrer, co-directors of the Love Center, who volunteer their time right alongside the 223 other people who gave of themselves as volunteers this past year at the center, it has been a blessing to work side by side with so many people who care.
The Rohrers, whom Hasemeyer said were “a lightning rod for blessings,” presented some of the spectacular numbers of people and pounds of food the center went through this year. Volunteers donated a staggering 12,871 hours of service to the center in 2009. Mark Rohrer said that the volunteers are invaluable, and if it were not for them, the Love Center would never exist.
“We’re chosen vessels, and we don’t just have a job to do, but we have a ministry,” said Rohrer. “We give ourselves to God’s kingdom in service. You are people who are willing to do whatever is needed.”
Hasemeyer summed up the value of the volunteers by stating, “As volunteers, you are the manifestation of the love God has put in all of our hearts. We are so blessed to have you as part of our mission.”