Volunteers Petra Castro and Vanessa Perez help with food distribution at Father McNaboe Park on July 24. The event was organized by the Laredo Regional Food Bank and Pastor Lucy De Leon of New Vision Church in cooperation with
The love Pastor Lucy De Leon of New Vision Community Church of Laredo has for her community is infectious. She is a strong leader whose energy and passion for serving is motivating and inspiring.
We were blessed to assist with the July 24 “Drive-thru Emergency Food Distribution” at Father McNaboe Park off FM 1472. The event was hosted by the Laredo Regional Food Bank, in partnership with New Vision Community Church, Laredo City Council member George Altgelt, Webb County Commissioner Cindy Liendo, and the Laredo Fire Department.
Cars lined up before the 9 a.m. start time, and by the end of the event, approximately 700 families had been served. They were given food, spices, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
On the New Vision Community Church of Laredo Facebook page Pastor Lucy posted a video and thanked “the Lord for allowing us to serve this ‘Amada (Loved) Community’ as one.”
We were eager to assist with this event. Petra Castro and daughter Monica Jackson volunteered as well. Pastor Lucy put us to work opening boxes, sorting products by category, building care boxes, and ultimately placing pre-made care bags with non-perishable food in each vehicle.
Vehicles were marked with either a one or a two, providing guidance for how many bags to distribute. They came one after another, receiving contributions from multiple stations, and ending with a gallon of milk and a bag of chicken from refrigerated trailers at the end of the distribution line. Pastor Lucy mentioned to me the day before that she had spent a good portion of the day separating chicken into bags for this event in order to be organized.
Once the car lines slowed down, we had the opportunity to speak to Pastor Lucy, thanking her again for allowing us to be part of this effort. She said, “This is not the work of one person, it’s the work of a whole bunch of volunteers. If people would know the work it entails. Weeks of preparation must be done whether we’re distributing to 500 or 1,000.”
Pastor Lucy said she would be serving about 200 people in the colonias later that evening. She talked about needing shampoos and toiletries for hygiene bags and for cleaning supplies.
She urges all to support their store, La Bodega de José, adjacent to the New Vision Community Church at 3119 North Meadow Ave. She said items are priced very economically, and all proceeds support their efforts as Laredo’s only faith-based food bank. Regarding her work with the church she emphasized, “Every week we don’t stop, we keep working, working, working.”
I am enthusiastic and proud that leaders like Pastor Lucy De Leon, who give selflessly and without expectation of return, are contributing so much to our beloved Laredo.
In the words of Harry S. Truman, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
May we all seek to be this selfless.
