After having his eyes opened to recognize poverty and hunger at a young age , Jay Bridges can ’ t turn away from what he sees in his own community .
Our Daily Bread Food and Resource Center volunteer Jay Bridges noted that donations had decreased since the pandemic increased people ’ s needs , and supplies of extra food dropped . He was excited to see the large donation that would help fill the shelves in the self-shopping area of Our Daily Bread for Harvest II .
ing to deliver meals to homebound people who can not safely cook for themselves fulfills Rotary ’ s motto , ‘ service above self .’
“ The old saying , ‘ what goes around , comes around ,’ any of us might be in that situation , Lambert said . “ I certainly hope that we have the opportunity to have good people help us .”
‘ FIGHTING HUNGER … FEEDING HOPE ’
Another organization built on volunteerism is Our Daily Bread Food and Resource Center . Since 2017 the regional food bank has fought hunger in Payne County by addressing the root causes .
Jay Bridges started volunteering his time at ODB in 2019 when he retired from Xerox after 37 years . Fighting hunger in his community was a cause he cared deeply about because he had seen it firsthand . In his words , growing up as a “ military brat ” exposed him to observing poverty worldwide .
“ I ’ ve seen extreme poverty . War-torn poverty of the 60s in Korea ,” Bridges recalled . “ That made a big impression on me . I was in the first group of dependent children allowed back into Korea after the Korean War from the United States .”
After having his eyes opened to recognize poverty and hunger at a young age , Bridges can ’ t turn away from what he sees in his own community .
“ That ’ s the reason I ’ m here . Because I don ’ t ever want to see people in those streets again . Not in America ,” Bridges said .
One of the tasks volunteers do at ODB is to help sort food items from various sources , like local grocery stores , restaurants , and food drives . Like Stillwater ’ s annual Harvest II Community Food Drive , which collects around 50,000 pounds of food each year for families in need .
This year Harvest II surprised ODB volunteers with a 9,000-pound donation . “ I did not sleep well last night because I was so excited about all the new food that had
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