If you’ve ever been to one of our Packathons, you may have noticed that it requires a LOT of supplies. Several pallets of ingredients along with boxes, scales, totes, funnel stands, and more are loaded onto a 53-foot trailer and dropped at the site to make these events possible. Much goes on behind the scenes to prepare for an event, and there are a lot of people with responsibilities. However, I want to take some time and talk about one of those unsung heroes involved in our ministry.
After arriving at your event and seeing that massive trailer sitting in the parking lot, you may have asked yourself, “Who has to drive that thing?” Well, allow me to introduce our good friend, Bill South. It’s possible that many of you have met Bill at one of our events. He can often be found helping us unload the truck, setting up the stations, or palletizing the finished boxes after the shift. He is one of the greatest servants I have had the pleasure of meeting, and he owns the trucking company that handles all of our shipping! And it all started at a Packathon a few years ago.
Feed the Hunger was hosting a Packathon at Saint Mark’s Church here in Burlington when Bill approached us. He shared with us that he owned a trucking company and wanted to know if we could use him in any capacity. Well, it didn’t take long for us to say “Yes!” Bill has been part of our family ever since. He and his employees have hauled our equipment all over the country for countless events—I can’t remember a time they ever showed up late! Bill always has a smile on his face and is itching to lend a hand any way he can. Like I said before, he is a true servant.
Bill is also quite a character. The man has more stories than Walt Disney. Ask him about any subject and he can tell you a story about that same subject. It makes for a lot of laughs and a lot of learning, and ever since Bill joined our ranks we’ve all done a lot of both. Now, you may be thinking, “I’d love to meet this Bill.” Well, here’s how you know you’ve met him: if you’re ever at a Packathon and the man you’re talking to refers to Feed the Hunger as “my charity,” you’ve just met Bill.
You see, as long as I’ve known Bill, he’s been calling Feed the Hunger his charity. If you ask him what Feed the Hunger is, he’ll tell you it’s his charity. When he’s at a Packathon and gets a call from a client asking him what he’s doing, he says, “I’m helping my charity.” I’m assuming if he stopped for coffee on the way to our warehouse and the cashier asked him where he was headed, he would probably say, “I’m going to visit my charity.” That’s just the kind of guy Bill South is. He doesn’t own any part of the ministry and his name is nowhere on the building, but that doesn’t matter to him. Bill’s the kind of guy who takes ownership over the things that he loves. For Bill, this isn’t about the loads hauled or the miles driven; it’s about the relationships that he has built and the family he has made at Feed the Hunger. It’s about the meals being packed and the children being fed every day. It’s about the gospel being shared all around the world. That’s why he shows up month after month with a smile on his face and a story to tell. That’s why we are “his charity.”
Several months ago Bill got a phone call from one of his clients. The man had a rush order and wanted Bill to haul something that weekend. Well, Bill had already committed to helping Feed the Hunger, so he told the man he was busy helping his charity. As you can probably imagine, the man on the other end of the phone call was not happy and made sure Bill knew that. After quietly listening to the man rant, Bill calmly explained something to him. He told the man that Feed the Hunger was number one. They always have been, and they always will be, and nothing was going to change that. And then he told the man, “Everybody else is fightin’ for second place. First place is already taken. All you can do is hope for second.”
I have to say, I smiled pretty big when Bill told me that story. And to the man on the other end of that phone call, I offer my condolences to you, but the truth of the matter is that nothing can come between a man and his charity.
God bless you, Bill. And thank you for your service to our ministry.
Caleb Fox | Warehouse Manager
