Meet Mr. Harry - Salvation Army Food Pantry Volunteer

With our continuing focus on hunger and The Salvation Army programs that help fight hunger, food pantries, serving meals, and passing out snack bags, you can’t help but wonder who the people are behind our programs.



Meet Mr. Harry.











Mr. Harry is a faithful food pantry volunteer at The Salvation Army in McKinney.

For the past five years, every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 – noon, Mr. Harry volunteers in the pantry. He organizes and restocks shelves, and bags groceries to pass out to people in need. He says he is passing out grocery bags to 10-15 families per day and the family size can vary from a single adult to a family with eight children.

Working with groceries is not new to Mr. Harry. He has worked at and managed several grocery stores for more than fifty years. After retiring he felt God calling him to volunteer, so he went to The Salvation Army in McKinney to find out how he could help.

“A few weeks after expressing the interest in volunteering, the Corps’ officers called to tell me they could use my help in the food pantry,” Mr. Harry said.

Having experience working in a grocery store was a plus, so he knew the volunteer job would not be too difficult. But, in his new volunteer role at The Salvation Army he was eager to do something more than just hand out food.

“The volunteer position allows me to meet new people and hand out bags of food but, more importantly, to offer to pray with the people that come in,” Mr. Harry said.

“Sometimes I see single moms crying because they are so happy to receive food that will feed her and her children.”

On Mr. Harry’s desk is a printed copy of the scripture verse Isaiah 53 from the Bible. Harry accepted the Lord into his life in his mid-forties, and he says it is never too late for someone to know Christ.


Sadly, this will be Mr. Harry’s last week volunteering with The Salvation Army in McKinney. He will be relocating to Las Vegas, NV to be closer to his family. He says that when he gets settled into his new routine, he may look for opportunities to volunteer at The Salvation Army there.

He credits God’s timing in all of this as he has found a volunteer replacement, Mr. Gary.

Mr. Gary is eager to start volunteering and is most excited about meeting new people.

"People are important,” Mr. Gary says.


“It does not cost anything to be nice to people.”