Passing The Torch To Chuck Landry

Chuck Landry
St. Stephen's Pantry Coordinator

Or we might say, "A torch has been lit, and his name is Chuck Landry!"  As the staff at LCS start to make plans on the eventual move of our office from Rodney Street to Baynard Blvd, we realized that the St. Stephen's pantry will need a special helper to ensure that things run smoothly while me make this transition.

Proposed vision of new building for LCS.

Chuck Landry a relative new comer to St. Stephen's found himself drawn to our pantry and our mission. Pretty soon we found ourselves drawn to him as well, and before long, we had ourselves a team leader ready for action.

I asked Chuck to tell us a little bit about himself...

"My wife Carol and I have lived in the Wilmington area for twenty-three years.  For most of those years we attended Grace Lutheran Church in Drexel Hill where Carol grew up, but as the congregation changed we decided to look for a faith home nearer to where we live.  The people of St. Stephen's were warm and welcoming, and made us feel at home right away.  Then I learned about the food pantry and its mission to serve those in need, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of that mission.  

Not only has the work been as rewarding as I had hoped, but the volunteers in the pantry have been a delight to work with.  Many wonderful people have helped make the pantry a vital resource in our community, and with the help and support of all our volunteers I hope to continue that tradition."

We are most grateful for Chuck stepping up to the plate and becoming part of the LCS family and taking on such a big role so graciously.

Chuck & Cher meet to talk
about St. Stephen's

With that said, there are changes taking place now, and more to come as we make plans for our future move into the new office building.

 - First change is, NO change: St. Stephen's pantry is NOT closing or moving! I think we have that question asked to us every week. We have more than one stationary pantry; Hope Lutheran, Zion Lutheran and St. Stephen's all host stationary pantries for us. LCS moving it's offices has no impact on St. Stephen's and the pantry located within. We still need all of our wonderful volunteers at St. Stephen's to continue running it and serve our community just like always.

- Real change, and these changes apply to St. Stephen's Pantry ONLY.
Over the past several months Chuck has been meeting with staff to learn all of the in's and out's of the pantries operations.

- The first real big change is that everyone who works at St. Stephen's pantry who needs to be put on the schedule or needs their schedule changed will need to contact Chuck. His number is available in the pantry or you can get it by calling our main office number (302) 654-8886 and dial x107 or email me at cframpton@lcsde.org.

- If you need to call out sick, please call Chuck. Even if you find your own replacement like you may have done so in the past, call and let him know.

- In the event of inclement weather, either Chuck or Cher Frampton will call to inform whoever is on the schedule the morning of our closing. If you are not contacted in a timely manner, please call our main office number and listen to the message on the phone. We never advise our volunteers to venture out into any weather they feel unsafe, so no matter if we are opened or closed, please make decisions that are best for you and your safety.

Chuck Landry and Cher Frampton at your service.

Schedules will be posted in the pantry on the bulletin board, please look them over to ensure you are on for the month, and that it is correct in dates and in number of hours. We are expecting a few hiccups as we switch over systems. If you have questions, concerns or see something that just is not working, please bring it to our attention. We cannot fix it if we do not know it is broken. Our goal is to make things easier, not harder, so your input has always been valuable.

Thank you for all of your patience while we make this transition, and most important, for all that you do!