Co-leaders Kim Groff and Glory Huerta walked back and forth throughout the Lovepacs Aubrey/Pilot Point location on Sunday, giving members of the community a chance to see their new location for themselves.
The new warehouse space at 4940 U.S. 377, Ste. 7, in Aubrey provides a different experience for the Lovepacs volunteers while working “to feed children in need as an expression of love,” as its mission statement says.
“When I met Kim [Groff] and when I came with NorthRock [Church] to volunteer, I fell in love with what she does, because what she does is helping kids to not go through what I went through.”
For Huerta, serving means more than just doing good works.
“When I was little, we were very poor,” Huerta said. “We are a family of seven kids, and my dad was in and out of the relationship, and my mom was the provider. … There were many times that we were hungry; we didn’t have anything to eat.”
She added that she “knows what hunger means.”
“I just don’t want any kid in my community to go hungry,” Huerta said.
In those times, the kids would drink sugar water “so we didn’t pass out because we were so hungry.”
She volunteers alongside her mom and other family members, along with friends throughout the area.
Lovepacs Executive Director Autumn Chavez was present for the open house, meeting Lovepacs Aubrey/Pilot Point volunteers and community members.
“I love this organization,” she said. “The reason that I joined was I wanted a place to volunteer with my boys, who are now 23 and 20, but a lot of places wouldn’t allow kids to come. … Once I met all the wonderful leaders, I just kind of knew this was the place for me. I guess I’m not ever leaving.”
She also complimented Groff, who she said does more for Lovepacs than most see.
“She really is kind of my right-hand person,” Chavez said.
Inside the building, there is an area for kids as well as Ms. Karen’s Corner in honor of Karen Mattson, who expanded the local chapter of Lovepacs to serve more families along both the U.S. 380 corridor as well as the U.S. 377 corridor.
“She’s so present every day,” Huerta said. She’s happy about the increased space that should make packing days easier for the volunteers.
“We’re paying the same amount of rent that we used to pay there, and we have more than double [the square footage that] we had over there,” Huerta said.
Groff agreed, saying the motivation to find the space was because “we needed to be able to work like this,” including using pallet jacks and conveyor belt systems.
Volunteer Jeanette Gascoigne said she, too, is excited for the added space in which they can work.
“There is so much more room to work here, in the way it is set up,” she said. “In the other building we were shoulder to shoulder, having to move out of each other’s way. The conveyor roller to move the boxes down the assembly line and place on the pallet at the end is awesome. At the other facility the boxes, which are quite heavy, were carried to another room where the pallets were. This new facility will allow the process to be more efficient and productive.”
