Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Summer 2012 Issue | Page 20

continued from page 17

bridge for it to be more relational and
less institutional,” said the Rev. June
Hardy Dorsey, assistant rector. “The
volunteers began to see the guests …
in some new ways.”

Next came a period of prayer and
discernment. A group of volunteers
planned a field trip to a church in the
Highland Springs area that they’d heard
about through the Central Virginia
Food Bank, which already subscribed to
the market-style model.

“The next barrier was that this
would be an organizational nightmare,”
said Hardy Dorsey. The church receives
food from a variety of organizations –
with a variety of different regulations.
This meant months of careful planning
to create a strategy that was in line
with the rules. But some assistance
and oversight from volunteers helped
them craft a plan for making the
transformation of their food pantry as
seamless as possible.

“The atmosphere in the hall has
transformed,” said Hardy Dorsey.
“People know each other’s names,
they drink coffee, they help get each
other’s groceries.” And they serve
more food and more people now, too.
Under the old model, the church would
go shoppi