- November 6, 2024
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Hundreds of volunteers pitch in for each Access Flagler resource fair every two months to help bag up goods for the underprivileged. Photos by Colleen Michele Jones
Community services such as free haircutting are available at each of the fairs. On April 7, Sims Jones took advantage of the service, provided by Jessica Barron of the Flagler Technical Institute.
Dozens of families line up to receive free supplies and resources at the April 7 Access Flagler event in Flagler Beach.
When my Leadership Flagler team and I mobilized at the Santa Maria del Mar church in Flagler Beach on April 7, we were told that while we were part of a pretty well-oiled machine -- six years and counting -- there are always personal and unique issues that invariably come up in the somewhat messy business of distributing donated food and goods to needy recipients in the community.
Yes, the beneficiaries are always grateful. And yes, the volunteers and vendors always come well supplied and equipped to serve their needs, namely clothing, dietary essentials, haircuts, and other necessary supplies, to get these individuals and families through.
Access Flagler, the group that sponsors this multi-agency social services welfare fair every two months, requires that recipients register to be allowed admittance to the event, mostly for their record-keeping. But as the day went on, there were rumors of some people trying to get back on the line again, to receive their free standard-issue roaster chicken, cereal boxes, peanut butter, cheese and other sundries if they might possibly be able to get on, and through the line again.
While Pastor Charles Silano, a pastor with Grace Tabernacle Ministries, said, "We're not in the business of turning anyone away," there is also the idea that subsidies, even as needed as they might be by certain individuals and families, had to be fairly distributed. Just as they were donated.
Some 50 social service agencies across Flagler County come together as a coalition every other month to help those who need help helping ends meet. The event (usually held at the Cattleman's Hall at the Flagler County Fairgrounds, except for this month when the venue was taken over by the county fair) serves anyone and everyone who shows up: it's on the honors system; organizers figure those who don't need the help won't go through the waiting process (a cramped room where recipients are given "tickets" and families, 15 at a time are allowed into the warehouse to peruse what they need and "shop" accordingly).
To say those who did attend last week's event were grateful is an understatement. The Leadership Flagler team, of which I am a part of, helped to direct guests, first to the event, by golf car rides from their cars in outlying parking lots to the registration room, to the fair hall, and then back their cars, also by way of door-to-door service with a smile via golf carts. They people we met -- sometimes, in the broken English they spoke -- spoke a common language: they were so very thankful for the job we, and others at the fair, were doing to help them provide the most basic necessities on their tables and in their homes.
"Adios," I told one older woman exiting the golf cart I used to carry her to her location.
"No, Russian," she corrected me, pausing just a second before adding, "No matter, thank you so very, very much, angel.:
