John and Michele McCandless
“We have worked at Heart to Heart over a year and volunteer for food distribution on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We became involved for a few reasons. We had worked at a food pantry run by Lutheran Social Services for a number of years before joining First Community. LSS chose another model as an alternative to the traditional food pantry and our work stopped.
We volunteer at Heart to Heart because we want to be part of people’s success story. Sometimes, all anyone needs is a little help. So many people have said to us, “I’ve never done this before.” “I’m ashamed to be here.” “I didn’t know where else to turn.” To be there for someone in their time of need helps us to be ‘fully human,’ to maybe begin to realize why we were placed on this earth.
We also joined Heart to Heart for purely selfish reasons. We are relatively new residents of Columbus and definitely new members of First Community. We wanted to meet people. We have always belonged to relatively small churches where it was easy to meet people and find your niche. We thought the more involved we became at First Community, the sooner we would feel a comfortable fit in this large congregation. We have met many nice people at Heart to Heart, both co-workers and clients and get so much more back than we give in the few hours we volunteer. In the dark days of Covid-19 over the past year, coming to Heart to Heart was the highlight to our week. We truly looked forward to being there and treasured the moments.”
