CALICO ROCK — Since 2004, Calico Rock Community Care, locally known as the Food Room, has bought a building, replaced the roof, put in new electrical wiring and plumbing, and added a kitchen. Ruedean Lester took over this food pantry in 2003. In six years, she has raised $75,000 in donations.
“My daughters won’t go anywhere with me,” she said, smiling. “They say, ‘Mother begs money for the Food Room all the time, and it’s embarrassing.’ That’s how I did it, just letting people know there was a need.”
According to the U.S. census, in 2008, Izard County’s median family income was $30,900, with 20 percent of the population living below the poverty level. The Food Room serves about 200 families or 550 people per month. To qualify, a family of four’s gross monthly income must be $2,380 or less.
“The churches pitched in,” Lester added. “More than half the money came from the Calico Rock area. I know everybody around here; and if I don’t, it’s because they moved here in the last few months.”
She also contacted people she knew from her 22 years with the state Health Department.
“Look how generous people have been,” Lester said as she glanced around her office.
Erected in 1963, the 4,000-square-foot stone and cement building was originally a post office.
“A big percentage who donate tell me, ‘Don’t say anything about it. This donation is between you and me and God,’” Lester said.
She describes fundraising as a chain.
“Someone gives $10,” she said. “They feel good about it. They will give a little more, but then they tell other people. There’s never a day that at least a dozen people don’t come in just to talk about what we’re doing here.”
The Food Room opened in 1980 at a different location. By 2003, the operation had moved seven times. The Calico Rock School District decided to sell the building the Food Room was using and gave the organization a year to move. About then, the Rev. Gilbert Molinar, who had run the Food Room for several years, asked Lester to take his place. She agreed, but only for two months.
“I found this building, and the board said ‘yes’ to letting us buy it,” she said. “Bancorp South offered us 5.25 percent interest and said if we couldn’t make a payment, we could roll it over.”
The local Ministerial Alliance has always been the Food Room’s “back-up.” When the asking price came down to $40,000, Lester was pleased that the Ministerial Alliance members agreed to the loan.
“In two years, two months and 21 days,” Lester said, “we had the loan paid off.”
Volunteers cleaned out the building and moved in equipment.
“I bought a walk-in freezer and a cooler from the school,” Lester said. “I got donations for all the work that was done here.”
She personally built rows of shelves. The roof leaked.
“After a rain, we would carry 500 gallons of water out of here,” she said.
With the building loan paid, she borrowed another $10,000, which she paid back in six months.
“We got a $22,000 roof for $10,000. Firestone was happy to cut their prices for materials. Our Food Room volunteers did all the work.”
Next, Lester borrowed money to have the building rewired, the plumbing updated and some concrete work done. That loan was also quickly paid off. With another $10,000 loan for fixtures and cabinets, Lester and her volunteers installed a new kitchen and remodeled the bathroom. This most recent loan has also been repaid. The new kitchen opened in late October. Her next projects are pots, pans and dishes for the kitchen, refinishing the cement floors and painting the building inside and out.
Most of the organization’s food comes from the Foodbank of North Central Arkansas in Norfork and the Arkansas Rice Depot in Little Rock. Norfork delivers U.S. Department of Agriculture commodities, along with cereal, crackers, flour and other dry items.
“I’m going to Hardy tomorrow to pick up a Rice Depot shipment at the Mission of Hope,” Lester said. “I have my own truck, and a couple brings theirs, too. The prisoners at the Mission do the loading.”
These truckloads include canned goods, paper products, frozen meat and vegetables. Back in Calico Rock, City Hall sends work crews to unload the trucks.
Food-related expenses are paid annually by a $1,200 Izard County Quorum Court grant and $800 to $1,200 from the North Arkansas Development Council. Churches and individual donations cover operating expenses — electricity, water, propane, insurance and supplies.
“I have the most wonderful volunteers,” she said. “Three ladies break down the big containers of rice, beans, flour, cereal and meat into individual packages.”
Some volunteers stack canned goods and other products on shelves or help with the twice-monthly food distribution. Each family receives a 100-pound box of food. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, Lester includes a holiday meal in each box — turkey breast, sweet potatoes, pumpkin-pie mix and cranberry sauce.
Sue Warner is a faithful volunteer.
“First, I like Ruedean,” Warner said while washing plastic containers for the annual ham-and-bean supper held each Halloween. “We’ve been friends for many years, and working here gets me out of the house and gives me something to do. Anything that needs to be done, I try to do it.”
The Food Room’s other fundraising event is a spring yard sale.
Lester often works 10-hour days.
“I take a sleeping pill about midnight and sleep until 4. I’m 74 years old, and I’ve never slept any more than that. I thrive on doing what I do. The Food Room is my first priority in life.”
To donate or volunteer, call (870) 297-3096 or stop by Calico Rock Community Care on Arkansas 56 next to the Jenkins Motel.