ShareNet has many thanks to give this month to a community full of helpful people. Way to go Greater Kingston Kiwanis for hosting a food drive for us on Aug. 13 in connection with the Mustang Raffle, the proceeds of which also benefit local agencies.

Thanks to Albertsons for providing the space for the drive, and to the community, which generated 435 pounds of food donations.

Tickets are still available for the Mustang raffle. The winner of this 1966 beauty will be drawn Aug. 28 at the Concert on the Cove in Mike Wallace Park.

Our thrift store thanks the Greater Hansville Community Center and Kingston Unity Church for donating leftovers after their rummage sales.

Don’t forget ShareNet’s back-to-school supplies drive and distribution sponsored by Columbia Bank. The distribution of a new backpack outfitted with all the supplies any particular grade requires to children of local families in need will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Monday, Aug. 30 at ShareNet.

Supply donations and signups to receive a backpack will have closed by this article’s publication date, but financial donations to support the event are still needed and welcome.

Volunteer profile:

Rex Gallaher

Rex Gallaher at age 68, with all the typical wear of a hard worker that age, is one of ShareNet Food Bank’s most active volunteers, salvaging donated food, transporting and stocking it, with no regard for his aches and pains, or even his personal schedule. He also provides professional guidance as our board president, or any other assistance requested, at a moment’s notice.

In Gallaher, there’s no divide between one kind of work and the other; for him it all serves ShareNet. Gallaher has assisted us through the tremendous growth of the past three years, from serving around 2,000 clients annually to about 10,000 this year, with all attendant growing pains and need for additional resources.

Gallaher honors everyone he meets, and each feels motivated and lightened by that encounter. He is never without a smile or an encouraging word, but more importantly never without an action which functionally assists or allows a person or situation to effectively progress.

Recently, a food bank client sat outside my office waiting his turn for services. He didn’t look too happy to be there. We didn’t know what troubled him exactly, but statistically he probably shared with our other clients’ problems feeding himself and his family, likely including unemployment and frustration with the circumstances that required him to come to the food bank.

Though he did not present a face or attitude inclined to talk, Gallaher stopped the work he was doing to talk with him anyway. Gallaher didn’t see the barrier. He saw through the hurt and anger to a better place, where the man got through his current problems and fulfilled his potential. By the time Gallaher resumed his work, the man was so clearly in better spirits, improved by Gallaher’s kindness, that he was smiling and laughing.

Gallaher is a good example of how ShareNet tries to do more than routinely process the folks who need our help, no matter how many we see. He eased this man’s struggle, intuitively reflecting ShareNet’s mission to honor our clients while providing functional help getting through their current challenges.

In addition to his service to ShareNet, Gallaher serves as chair of the finance committee for Hansville Community Church, as a leader in the Celebrate Recovery program, as a Gideon, and helps maintain the trail system in Hansville.