Local Church teen leads other young volunteers in operating “kiddie pack” program
Lucious Newsom (right), founder of the Lord’s Pantry in Indianapolis, asked St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner Stephen Champlin to run a food program for children in need. (Photo by Caroline B. Mooney)
By Caroline B. Mooney (The Catholic Moment)
CARMEL — Needy children in Indianapolis have the chance to pick out their own food each weekend, thanks to the “kiddie pack” food program run by 16-year-old Stephen Champlin as an offshoot of the Lord’s Pantry.
The food pantry was started 20 years ago by Lucious Newsom, 93, a retired Baptist minister-turned-Catholic in Indianapolis. Each Saturday morning, the Lord’s Pantry is open in “Anna’s House,” named in honor of a young girl who helps Newsom feed the poor from her wheelchair.
Ten years ago, Champlin, his parents and two older sisters moved to the area and became members of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Carmel. Newsom spoke at the parish asking for volunteers at the Lord’s Pantry, and the family began working there regularly.
“Lucious has become like a family member to us,” said Mary Champlin, Stephen’s mother. “He is such a wonderful person. For anything we do to help him, we get back 100 times.”
The family has helped Newsom serve the needy each week and on holidays.
“Stephen is like any other kid,” she said. “He doesn’t always want to do what you say, but he’s really faithful to Lucious. I know where he’s going to be every Saturday.”
“I used to go on fishing trips with Lucious,” Stephen said. “We’re pretty close. In September, he came up with the idea to get the kids food and to have kids serve them. He chose me to run it — he came up to me and talked to me about it.”
“Stephen’s the boss down there,” Newsom said, “and we don’t like to interfere. I told Stephen to run the kiddie packs. He’s a good kid, kind of laid back, so I gave him a job and put him in charge.
“We give the kids a job, and boy, do they do a job,” he said. “My kids (volunteers) are the best. I always tell them — you’re Catholic; you are the best. They really work hard. There is no adult supervision of the kids’ line; it’s just kids helping other kids.
“It’s good for my kids to help,” he said. “It’s the only way they know they are blessed — their parents are providing for them; they have food at home.”
Before anyone is given food each Saturday, Newsom gathers his volunteers together to remind them why they are there. It is not to serve the needy, he says, but to serve Jesus.
Normally, between 30 and 50 children receive kiddie packs each week. Some come as their parents wait in line for food upstairs, and others are neighborhood children. Adults aren’t allowed in the basement with the kiddie pack line. Instead, the children choose what they want to eat, themselves.
“For most of them, it’s the only food they get for the weekend when they’re not in school,” Stephen Champlin said. “If they’re not in school, lots of them won’t be eating.”
On a recent Saturday, the children could select English muffins, jelly, peanut butter, crackers, pretzels, canned ravioli, pudding, cereal, packs of celery sticks with peanut butter, and drinks.
hen we first started the kiddie packs, every week Lucious would tell me to go find helpers, and I would ask any kids who were helping at Anna’s House to come down to the basement to help serve,” Champlin said. “Now that it’s been going on for a few months, the kids come find me. I have anywhere from 10 to 20 helpers each week.”
“I’ve known Stephen for years,” said Susan McIntosh, a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner. “I have worked with Lucious for about 20 years, and in October I happened to go by on a Saturday. I heard about the kiddie pantry and saw tables that high school kids had set up.
“My heart was touched when I saw it, and I asked Stephen if I could help in any way; if I could get him some resources,” she said. “He thought a notice in our parish bulletin would be great.”
A list of needed foods was printed, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners donated everything that was asked for. However, the kids’ pantry doesn’t yet have consistent donations.
“We have to ration our food according to what we have on the shelf each week,” Champlin said. “When I come in each Saturday morning, we might be missing some aspect of a meal, so I will go out and buy things before the kids come in.
“I am there every Saturday that I can go,” he said. “It feels really good helping here. I’m sure as long as I’m in town I’ll keep coming every week.”
“The dedication and the commitment are great — and it’s such a wonderful idea,” McIntosh said. “After working with Lucious for so long, to see another portion of the program started is wonderful. The fact that a young person took it on is wonderful — Stephen is such a positive role model, and the program itself is such a positive thing.”
- - -
Anyone interested in volunteering at the food pantry can call the Champlins at 317-571-1470 or go to Anna’s House, 303 N. Elder Ave., Indianapolis, any Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon.
- - -
(Go to the website of The Catholic Moment) †