By Ronnie Fein Special
Barbara Bagnato moves swiftly, packing potatoes into individual plastic bags, then heads toward a wall shelf to grab a can of olives. After greeting a visitor, she runs to the back room to fetch a frozen chicken. She returns with a bag of food for a waiting client, then turns around to sort through carrots and stalks of fresh brussels sprouts brought in by someone from a local food co-op.
It's Monday, Bagnato's day as a volunteer at the Food Pantry, a program sponsored by Christian Community Action in Norwalk.
CCA serves the needy in the greater Norwalk area. It began in 1972 with a group of parishioners of St. Paul's on the Green Church in Norwalk but today the organization is a large nonprofit, nonsectarian agency with several diverse programs that provide food and kitchen wares, furniture, financial assistance and other necessities. The Food Pantry is open on weekdays and, beginning next year, will also be open the second Saturday of every month, to serve the working poor who cannot get there during the week. Clients come in monthly to pick up about six days' worth of food for their families - peanut butter, canned vegetables, pasta, powdered milk and occasionally, chicken or hot dogs.
There's a sense of urgency in the way Bagnato works at the pantry. There are a lot of hungry mouths to feed, so she rushes to get the job done.
"Barbara is one of those people who don't seem to have a slow speed," says Christi Pope, CCA's director.
Bagnato, a Norwalk resident who also has a part-time job in human resources at the Moore Center for Rehabilitation in Darien, says she wasn't always an energetic worker. "When I was younger, my mother used to scream at me. She'd yell, 'You gotta get up and get a job!'"
It is evident that Bagnato followed her Mom's advice. She married and raised two children, and had a full-time job for many years with Georgia-Pacific. When the company moved south in 2003 "it was my opportunity to volunteer," she says. She had always been involved in the food drives at her church (St. Jerome in Norwalk) and co-chairs its social concerns committee.
CCA was the next logical step.
Bagnato's efforts at CCA have not gone unnoticed.
"She's an engine that never stops," says Anita Osborn, another CCA volunteer.
Kathy Jacobs, a volunteer in charge of the furniture program, says Bagnato is "always cheerfully willing to help. There's never any hesitation. I've seen her take on big things like the Gift of Giving program and she does it with a smile."
In addition to volunteering in the pantry, Bagnato chairs CCA's annual Gift of Giving program, which distributes holiday gifts for as many as 800 children every December. Clients sign up in October, the children's names and ages are taken and in December each child receives three items: a toy, an article of clothing and a book.
Bagnato contacts churches and synagogues and organizations such as the Girl Scouts, companies like William Raveis as well as individuals to make donations, including wrapping paper for all the items. She makes sure there is enough of everything for the signed-up families, coordinates the volunteers who take in the gifts as they come into the building and makes certain that all gifts are distributed. The clients come to pick up the gifts and wrapping paper. "We don't wrap. We want the presents to be from the parents, not from us," Bagnato says.
"The Gift of Giving program is a huge responsibility," says Nicol Ayers, CCA's food coordinator. "I've only been here for five months but I already know that Barbara is reliable beyond the call of duty. She works in the pantry and runs the (Gift of Giving) program. I can call on her any time. I don't worry on Mondays."
As she wraps whole beets and stuffs bags full of parsley, Bagnato stops - momentarily - to ponder the why of what she does. She knows that CCA is helping people in need and that "most of them are extremely nice. And grateful," she says. But for Bagnato there's more than merely filling stomachs. There is also spiritual fulfillment.
"I never wake up not wanting to go (to CCA)," she says. "For me it's a religious kind of thing. It's something that I get more out of. It's just the idea that you have something to give to someone else. You see so much consumerism out there. There's no appreciation or sense that there are other things in the world than all the presents people open up. But this job brings you back to reality. It's wonderful to see how people feel giving donations and it's amazing to see what little things make people happy. It gives you a big bucket full of joy."
There are other joyful parts of Bagnato's life. She loves to play golf and tennis. She skis in winter, gardens in summer. She and her husband, a retired businessman, enjoy their time together. And she delights in the people she has met at CCA.
Osborn says that she and Bagnato value each other as friends. "She is like my other half," Osborn says as Bagnato nods in agreement. "We have similar concerns and values. We like to help and serve people. It is what we Christians are put on earth to do. By chance we got to work together. Now it's by choice."
Sports and friends aside, CCA is always in the back of Bagnato's mind. She says that to relax at night she goes over the spreadsheets on her computer to keep up with Gift of Giving. And the last thing she says as she sorts through cans of beans and inspects bunches of celery is: "If people have small household items like plates or pans, we could use them."
Copyright (c) 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.