The Fabulous Food Packers, as they are known as, come together one night a month to pack food boxes at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s Williamsport hub. Nobody is quite sure when the group started to coalesce behind that goal. Some have been doing it for eight years and say that the group pre-dates their time there, but the length of time does not matter as much as their consistent dedication to the task.

The first Tuesday of every month this group of food packers shows up, sometimes 15 of them, sometimes many more, to pack food into boxes to be distributed to the elderly or veterans or anybody in the community in need of healthy food.

They each seem to have chosen a task that suits their abilities. Some put together the boxes, some keep the supplies readily at hand for those who have chosen to put the food into the boxes. It’s obvious when you witness the speed at which they work that they enjoy each other’s company and they enjoy what they are doing — it is a labor of love.

“There’s really no assigned duties or anything like that,” said Rick Mason, a long-term member of the group.

“I’ve been doing this, I think, for eight or nine years. So assembling the boxes is one of my fortes so I can do it pretty quickly. Carl Barlett — my buddy right there — (we) typically assemble the boxes and all the other gang members fill them,” Mason said.

On this particular night, the goal is to fill 320 boxes for senior citizens within the two hours the group works. Mason shared that one night they filled 1,000 boxes, but the group was larger than the dozen or so people at work this time.

To witness the camaraderie between the packers, it would be easy to assume that, except for the couples who are married, they spend more time than just those two hours a month together, but not so, said Mason.

“We just come here. We’ve got a great, great bunch of volunteers. A lot of the same people show up month after month. And it’s just a fun group of people. We’re no nonsense, but we have a lot of fun,” he said.

Many in the group show up every month, and then there are those that drop in periodically to help. They may have heard about the Fabulous Food Packers from their Facebook page, which has about 150 followers, or they may have called the Food Bank to ask if they could help.

“It’s a very loose group of community-minded volunteers. I’ve never met a nasty Fabulous Food Packer,” Mason said.

Most of the group, like Mason, are retired, although some of the members come after they finish their day job to help pack.

“I retired 10 years ago this week and community service is just one of my passions,” Mason shared.

“There’s a whole slew of nonprofits and charities that I get involved with from time to time,” he said, before breaking off the conversation to greet another food packer walked in with a hug, the friendship they have developed obvious.

“It’s a great bunch of people. We get together — it’s a small thing we do for the community, but it gives us a good feeling and you know, we’re helping other people in need. It’s just giving back a little bit of ourselves to the community,” Mason said.

“Exactly,” said Cheryl Allison, another member of the Fabulous Food Packers. “And we get to meet wonderful people like this.”

“Everybody is so joyful, to be here, to go to a job where everybody is just so joyful and just wanting to help and we share stories and when we pack boxes, they’ll say we packed 86 boxes and everybody cheers-genuinely cheers,” Allison said.

She and her husband had moved to the area after retiring and wanted to get involved in the community.

“A friend suggested the Food Bank to come and volunteer. We came and we haven’t left. Eight years we’ve been here already and we absolutely love it. So giving back-it can’t do anything but warm your heart to know that we are doing something for the community,”Allison said.

“It fills our hearts and brings us joy to help the community,” she added.

Another member, Connie Dawes, actually started volunteering at the Food Bank with another group and then got involved with the Fabulous Food Packers during COVID.

“They posted on Facebook that they were looking for more hands, so I showed up and they’ve been stuck with me ever since,” Dawes said.

Dawes too thinks about the people who will benefit from the boxes that they fill, particularly those that go to senior citizens.

“My parents would have really appreciated that. So much. But they’ve been gone for a while. I know that they would have really appreciated this,” Dawes said.

Dawes usually works at supplying the packers with supplies, such as canned goods but she pointed out that everyone helps each other in the group.

“When we see something needs done and whoever sees it, they just do it. You don’t have to tell anybody to do anything. They just do it,” she explained.

Although they are one of the notable packing groups at the Food Bank, because of longevity, they are not the only one to consistently come to pack.

“We actually just did an open house slash award ceremony here about a month ago, where we had six different groups that have all been with us for over five years, in total,” said Grant Fillman, volunteer project coordinator at the Food Bank.

“We do have quite a few, but we always need more. Every day the need has been growing in the area. We’re putting out more food now than we did during the pandemic, so there’s always going to be a need. There’s always work to be done here. We couldn’t do this alone. The man hours are just astronomical when it comes to packing all these boxes,” he added.

He pointed out that in a month’s time 2,400 senior boxes, like the packing crew was working on that evening, are distributed from the Williamsport hub alone. The Food Bank’s Harrisburg hub sends out around 4,000 of those a month.

“And that’s only one of the boxes that we do. We do three other boxes that we put together,” Fillman said.

Anyone interested in joining the Fabulous Food Packers in their work at the Food Bank, can contact them on their Facebook page, or contact the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Williamsport Hub for information about volunteering.