Friends of the Coalition

I have been volunteering at the Provo Utah Food and Care Coalition at lunch time. I love it there! I have had so many wonderful experiences. One time a Indian man came there with a woman I later found out was his wife. He thanks my sister and I for serving there. He asked if we would mind if he told us his story. He said that he use to be addicted to alcohol and that he use to be homeless. He'd lose everything- work, home, wife and family. He felt hopeless. He came to the Coalition to get meals and found other help their. He was able to get a job, quit drinking and he was now active in a church and married to this woman. He was going to college and was there to remember and to write his story before graduating from college. Tears were in all of our eyes. We have seen many miracles there and this is just one of them! Thanks Stacy Hone

My daughter and I serve lunch once a week at the Food & Care Coalition. We're constantly amazed at the people that pour through the doors for lunch. We're so glad to help out each week. We're also surprised at the amount of donated items coming into the kitchen in the two hours we're there each week. What good people there are supporting those who are less fortunate than them.

I volunteer in the Food & Care Coalition's Dental Office. I am always amazed at the quality service the Coalition gives to the members of society who are in great need of good oral care!

My children and I have been volunteering at the Food & Care Coalition for over 5 years. It all began with an introduction to the Coalition's Executive Director, Brent Crane, at a local business function. I quickly learned of Brent's heavy involvement in the community and the good accomplished by the Coalition. I wanted to be part of this dynamic movement. In the ensuing years, we have enjoyed our association with all the Coalition team members and the clients served by this organization of caring souls. There is no such thing as second-best for the recipients of the Coalition's services. From the meals, to the dental services, to the life skills training--and beyond--every client at the Food & Care Coalition is served with respect, dignity, and diligence.

My daughter's Elementary School did a hygiene supply drive as a contest between grades. We gathered boxes and boxes of shampoo & conditioner, toothbrushes & toothpaste, lotion, soap, and toilet paper for the Food and Care Coalition. The response from the children was so much more than we anticipated. We filled a 12 passenger van, empty of benches, from floor to ceiling and then filled another mini van after that. Some of the children in the school's Service Club did announcements describing the people they were helping. The children were enthusiastic about the project. The children gained insight about the needs of people around them while also learning to be grateful for their own situations.

I started volunteering at the Coalition in my junior year of high school. I arranged for my school A Capella and Chamber choirs to sing during the meal times. I found the people working there so amiable and wonderfully eager to make the experience of serving there a great one. Because of the INCREDIBLE experience everyone had, this has become a choir tradition. I heard so many stories of how students' lives were changed from the people they met there, as well as the general feeling they received just from serving. Ever since we started serving there, the choir has become so much closer and more in tune with the messages carried in our music. I'm SO SO SO grateful that I had the opportunity to organize these "service singing" trips, and watch as the choir members' hearts were touched. Thanks so much to everyone at the Coalition for all that you do! :D

I have had the opportunity to volunteer for the Food and Care Coalition in a few different ways. It is a great organization to be involved with. One of my sons assembled "apartment start up kits" for his Eagle Project. It was such a meaningful project to him. Everything went so smoothly because the Food and Care Coalition is so organized! The Food and Care Coalition has so many different ways that people can serve depending on circumstance. There is something for everyone!

I love the Food and Care Coalition. I love volunteering there. They have provided a comfortable, safe, compassionate, happy environment for patrons and volunteers. The facility is well organized and clean and they meet the needs of their clients in a professional and efficient manner. They make it very easy to donate or volunteer there by providing current needs and providing a variety of projects or opportunities that can be fulfilled at home, in a classroom, or onsite. I have worked there with people of all ages and ability. This organization fills a true need in the community. They facilitate care for those who are in need of temporal help and provide opportunity for those who want to serve.

The Utah Food and Care Coalition is run by compassionate people who really love their work and the people they serve. We have spent hours helping in the kitchen and serving the clients. The staff are always meticulous about food safety and always give professional service. The pantry is always well-stocked and very clean. The dining area is even graced by a piano so the clients can have dinner music while they eat. Most of all, the staff are caring and considerate of the needs of the clients as well as the volunteers.

I have loved volunteering for the coalition, it has been a great experience! The staff there are so caring and friendly and they really love what they do. volunteering there has made me really appreciate what I have and want to help more.

Volunteering at Food and Care as a dental hygiene student this semester has been a great experience. It has helped me gain more perspective and gratitude for what I have and where I am in life by serving those who are homeless and/or unemployed. The patients I have seen have also been very grateful. There are so many needs in this underserved population and Food and Care is doing wonderful things to really make a difference in these lives!

It has been a really great experience working with the Food and Care coalition in Provo. The volunteers have been great to work with there and I have enjoyed working with the patients there!

This coaliltion does a tremendous amount of good in our community. They are caring and thoughtful of the patrons. They also let us, as the public, know of all the good they do and the needs they have. I appreciate that. It gives me definite ways I, and my family and extended family, can serve our community.

I'm a dental hygiene student volunteering at the dental clinic at Food and Care. The patients we see are usually unemployed and/or homeless. They need dental care but can't afford much. I really like to help them, it makes me feel like I'm making a difference. It's a much different feeling than working on patients from middle income families who have perfectly straight teeth. Those are great patients as well, but they don't need as much help as the patients at Food and Care. I like to help out in the community helping people who really need it.

The Food and Care coaltion in Provo Utah has been a great experience to volunteer at. It has given me great "real-world" training in the Dental clinic and has helped me practice my skills as a supervised student. The assistants here help out immensely and the schedule is always full of patients to help.

I am a professor at UVU in Orem, UT. I take the dental hygiene student to volunteer services for the dental clinic at the coalition. This helps those people in need of dental services and also helps the students advance in their skills. This is a great and beneficial service for all involved.

While serving with another volunteer organization for four years, I referred needy individuals to the Provo Food and Care Coalition on many occasions. The return comments from those referred individuals encouraged me to sign up as a volunteer. My experiences over the past 18 months have both awed and excited me. The staff and volunteer persons with whom I have served have been absolutely fantastic, energetic, and fun. And the people whom we have served have been almost always very sincere and complimentary in expressing their appreciation and feelings of blessings received during their time of need because of the availability and services provided by this charitable organization. The overall services provided by this organization for the benefit of our local needy persons are both extensive, exciting, and often times unexpected in the range and quality of services and care. Every time I work in the kitchen, it amazes me about the food service, types and quality of the proffered meals, and the genuine interest and concern demonstrated by the chefs, kitchen staff, and the organization leadership. As volunteers we often comment on the menus which many times are more diverse and complete for each daily meal than many of us are used to enjoying in our own homes. It also amazes me pertaining to the generosity of the food donors (individuals and organizations) within our area and the quality of the food products provided. This whole experience just makes my volunteer service exciting, fun, and definitely fulfilling. I look forward each week for my volunteer day to arrive and am having such a wonderful experience that I do everything I can to ensure that I do not miss a single opportunity to go and service. My experience as well as those voiced by my volunteer associates has been so worthwhile that it just makes us HAPPY. Whenever anyone says to me, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, I just have to respond with, THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVICE. The Provo Food and Care Coalition is a marvelous organization, well led and managed, and an absolute benefit to both our community and to those persons in need.

I have worked with the Coalition for the past 8 years. Over the years I have introduced my family, friends, and scout group to the coalition. It has provided a wonderful oportunity for me to help in a small way those who live among us that are in need. My family and I love serving at the coalition and will continue to do so in the many years to come.

The dental experience has been a positive experience. The chiropractor is awesome. The laundry is fantastic. The food window is wonderful. The food is awesome. And we have an excellent staff.

Having working for this private,non-profit agency since 1997, I have been in a position to see many hundreds of people that have been helped with their barriers that keep them in a homeless vicious circle. Compassion and dignity are traits that underpin the advocacy for individuals that are struggling with things such as mental health issues, substance dependence, mental or physical disabilities, economic issues, lack of education or opportunities, and/or lack of life skills. Agency administrative costs are very low and the staff works very hard. There is a large base of community volunteerism that helps make it possible.

The Provo Food and Care Coalition provide a great service to the community. I always look forward to the days that I get to volunteer there. Not only because it helps put my own life in perspective, but also because of the great staff have I have the opportunity to interact with.

The Food and Care Coalition does so much for the clients it serves. I am amazed at the leadership of this organization and their vision to make a difference in people's lives. They truly care about people. I have had the privilege of talking with some of the clients through a research project and have had some of my students volunteer in the organization. In addition, a representative from their organization always guest lectures in one of my courses providing students with valuable knowledge about this community organization. I greatly appreciate my association with them and look forward to our continued association in the future!

I helped drop off a delivery at the food & care last year around Christmas time. There were people there sorting through boxes of clothing and other items that had been donated for their use. I remember being struck by a beautiful little Asian Family. Usually when we think of homelessness we think of a single man or woman on the streets but we often don't think of children and families. Well, here was a family that was being served by this organization. It was striking to see the gratitude they had to find a helping hand and their happiness in receiving warm clothing to dress their children for properly for the cold winter months. This moment will stay with me forever. We need to do all we can to reach out to members of our community that are in unexpected circumstances, dire circumstances. And this organization is doing just that. One precious life at a time.

What a great organization. I have recently began to donate my time at the Food and Care Coalition. This is a well run and caring place. The attention to detail and time spent with each person is unmatched. Many lives are touched and changed; not only the lives of those in need, but the lives of those who give of their time and talents. It is a place where true charity is expressed.

The Food and Care Coalition is a wonderful facility supported by kind, non judgemental individuals. I have especially been impressed with the Share A Smile group in the dental clinic. I know they put in long hours and enjoy the service they give.

I can not say enough about the wonderful programs this agency provides for the community. They assist their clients by providing nourishment for both the body and spirit. They show compassion, love, respect and allow them to feel like complete human beings. My students and I have been taught so much by the clients we treat in their dental clinic. The UVU Dental Hygiene Students come back so very glad to have been able to educate and improve their clients oral health. Thank you, for gving us the opportunity to be a small part of such a terrific organization.

I am a dentist, and volunteer at the food and care coalition dental clinic. There are many organizations that would like me to donate my time, but I only donate to one - the food and care coalition, and I'll tell you why. I love that they ask the patrons to provide hours of community service before they receive services such as dental work. I've seen people that receive something for nothing, and it means close to nothing to them. It doesn't help them to better themselves and their situation, it doesn't improve their self esteem, and it does very little to change a life. When I provide dentistry for a food and care coalition patron, I know they have helped someone in return. I see a different sort of confidence in their eyes, and I see true gratitude. They know what it takes to give, so they truly appreciate my gift. This an an organization that will use any gift you give, and pay it forward many times over. Thank you for giving to my favorite organization.

I volunteer in the dental clinic at the Food and Care Coalition every Friday. I have seen many lives changed by the various services that are provide to the clients there. Their confidence and self-esteem are returned, they are then able to find employment and return to the mainstream of their communities.

I've really been impressed with all the things the food and care does for those people that really are in need. They really do care about the well being of these people and try and do everything they can to help these people get on there feet.

I feel that the Food & Care coalition does an effective job of providing for those who need help while maintaining the highest level of dignity for their clients. The ability to receive aid in exchange for community service gives their clients such a lift in self worth that I feel their formula is magic.

The food and care is an amazing organization. The director, Brent Crane, is visionary. He sees a vison of helping people who are in desperate situations to rise up and realize a better life. I love the way that they treat the poor with love and respect. I love the way that they find the specific needs of an individual and help them to address them. I love the way that those recieving help are encouraged to pay back the system with community service. This is a well run organization, they are frugal with their funds and amazing with their results.

What a terrific program! I can not say enough about how well organized and motivated everyone is that works/volunteers at the Food and Care Coalition. Everyone works towards the same goal of providing the best care possible to those that come through the doors. I thoroughly enjoy giving of my time to help out such a great cause and I appreciate all that goes on behind the scenes to make even my work more efficient.

I am very impressed by the facility, the volunteers, and the system that the Food and Care Coalition has maintained. The clients are always so appreciative and cooperative. I always feel good when I get to spend time working with these good people who just need a little extra help during a hard time of life.

I have been volunteering at the Food and Care Coalition for the past 3 years and I am very impressed with the "complete wellness" provided for each of the patrons. I leave happier every time I volunteer.

Share a smile organization is full of people who are cheerful and willing to help others. They are truly genuine and care about making the world a better place.

Seeing what is being done to the self esteem of those treated at the Food & Care Coalition's dental services program is edifying! When your down on your luck, having an organization like the Food & Care available is a wonderful blessing to all who participate in making it work! The volunteers, staff, & patients all working to help each other! We all benefit from it! Thanks~

Our foundation, Share a Smile, has a strong partnership with the Food and Care. We have been volunteering to provide dentistry for their clients for 8 years. In that time we have see many lives changed. Brent Crane and the entire staff at the Food and Care have amazing vision and work hard to lift those in need. Their new facility is amazing and has a unique feeling of hope. Its truly a place where lives are changed and miracles can happen. Its been a blessing in my life to be involved in the Food and Care Coalition.