LITTLE ROCK — Erma Smith smiled broadly when she opened the door of her Cumberland Towers apartment in Little Rock and saw Sue Frueauff standing there with a monthly delivery of food and personal-care items from Arkansas Rice Depot.
At 73, Smith is on a fixed income and doesn’t get around well, so the care package means a lot, especially around the weekend before Christmas when many people are scrambling to cross off gift lists and prepare for the holiday.
“I love everything they do. It is really nice,” Smith said after Frueauff, 69, went through a couple of the boxes with her pointing out a few items, such as a frozen ham that would work well for Christmas dinner.
“Thank you all, and you have a merry Christmas,” Smith said.
“You, too,” Frueauff replied. “We’ll see you next month.”
Saturday was a big volunteer day for Arkansas Rice Depot.
Lisa Bryant, a spokesman for the charity, said about 100 volunteers converged at 3801 W. 65th St. to help with various projects.
“It’s been crazy out here,” she said. “We had about 30 men out around the building clearing off brush and that kind of thing. And we had probably another 70 volunteers indoors labeling cans for us. We even had an extra Girl Scout troop show up, so I would say we had a bigger turnout than expected.”
Rice Depot gets dented or unlabeled canned goods from manufacturers who aren’t allowed by law to sell the damaged cans. Volunteers relabel the products.
Bryant said the men clearing the lawn were especially helpful. Home Depot lent the agency a wood chipper for the day so yard debris could be mulched and reused.
“The guys working outside, we really needed that help because we don’t have the resources on staff to do that kind of work,” she said. “With it being the weekend before Christmas, you don’t expect people to carve out half a day to help us, but we always need volunteers.”
Anyone interested in volunteering with the Arkansas Rice Depot can sign up on the agency’s Web site, ricedepot. org or call (501) 565-8855.
Frueauff said she’s been volunteering with the agency for about five years. The small-framed woman delivered 150 pounds of food and personal-care items Saturday - 50 pounds each to three senior citizens. She said she wants to be an example for her five grandchildren.
“I can’t imagine being hungry,” she said. “We’re put on this earth to help other people. I know that sounds like a cliche, but I believe that. I never went hungry, but I didn’t grow up with a lot. This is just a way for me to give back. It takes a couple hours one Saturday a month.Anybody can do that.”
As she entered and exited the building to load one of three shopping carts stored in the lobby for food deliveries, Frueauff warmly greeted other senior citizens who live in the building.
Among them was the familiar face of Melvin Pickens, who some around town have come to know as the Broom Man. Pickens, 77, is partially blind and can often be seen in Little Rock’s Heights and Hillcrest neighborhoods carrying brooms and mops over his shoulder. He sells them for $10 each.
He was waiting patiently for his delivery chatting with other residents in the lobby. He called the monthly deliveries a blessing.
“It’s real important to me,” he said of the care packages. “Many of the things, if not for Rice Depot, I wouldn’t be getting.”
Before Frueauff left, she bought a mop.
When asked if she really needed it, she laughed and said: “I don’t have a mop. I sure don’t need a broom.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 19 on 12/20/2009