By Rita McInerney

“Five For Food,” a good seed planted in February, 1982, by two caring people, Marguerite and John Oberg, has raised $82,601.50 to buy and distribute food for the poor through the Saint Vincent De Paul Society.

The Obergs’ approach to fund raising is uncomplicated. There is no overhead, no administrative cost. Five for Food members sign no pledges. They give $5 monthly, $60 annually to an effort that makes it easy for them to show compassion and love for the less fortunate.

As the number of hungry people increases, despite the improved economy, there is need for more money. Now Mrs. Oberg is looking for 200 more monthly contributors. “Five dollars a month isn’t even the cost of a bottle of wine of a carton of cigarettes. I can’t believe people can’t give $5 a month.”

According to the figures supplied by Betti Knott, executive secretary for the SVDP, $18,713.50 was received for Five for Food between February and September 30, 1982. For the next fiscal year, from October 1, 1982 until September 30, 1983, $23,502 was contributed. For fiscal 1983-84, $29,710 was received. So far this year, as of March 19, $10,676 was deposited in the FFF bank account.

Since February 1982, when the Obergs began their unique personal effort, the SVDP food pantry shelves have been well stocked with nutritious, tasty food staples.

“Without it (FFF) we couldn’t give out food on the scale we do,” Mrs. Knott says. “Donated food doesn’t last long. A lot of it has to be thrown away.”

On the first Wednesday of every month, the Obergs arrive at the SVDP headquarters in Atlanta’s West End with a truckload of food. Average amount spent each month is $2,500. Last month Marguerite Oberg deposited $1589.05 in cash and checks.

Food to fill the shelves for March cost over $2,600. This was the biggest order yet, according to Mrs. Oberg. “A&P has a marvelous sale on tuna. We bought four or five cases.”

The Obergs are expert food shoppers after many years in the restaurant business and, in Mrs. Oberg’s case, nine years of planning menus, buying food and cooking meals for Our Lady of the Perpetual Help Cancer Home.

Before making the monthly list they check with Randy Guckenberger at the SVDP office to see if there are any special needs they can fill. Then they call in the order to “Sam,” an employee of Associated Grocers in College Park where they purchase bulk foods at the discounted price paid by grocers.

Sam, who has become a vital member of the Five for Food team, writes up the order, assembles the cereals, canned vegetables, macaroni and cheese dinners, powered milk, rice, Brunswick stew, chicken and dumplings, spaghetti sauce. He has it ready when they arrive each month and loads all the heavy cartons onto the truck. “We couldn’t do it without him,” Mrs. Oberg acknowledges.

After loading up at the warehouse, she checks out advertised specials in frozen meats at supermarkets. She’s on good terms with several managers who are “just wonderful.”

Volunteers from St. Pius X High School unload the truck and carry the 60 pound cartons up the 14 steps leading to SVDP headquarters. One student, Terry Markey, has been a faithful helper for two years. “Unfortunately,” says Mrs. Oberg, “he’s a senior.”

Sister Dawn Gear, GNSH, assistant dean of students and moderator of student activities at Pius, says the once-a-month project was taken on as a Student Council responsibility after the Obergs asked the school for strong young helpers.

“They’ve been extremely generous with their time and money. Four or five students volunteer each month, not always the same ones, it depends on what’s going on. I find ourselves a driver and we go each first Wednesday afternoon. It does infringe on their time but we always have enough volunteers. They’re dismissed at 2:30 and they work unloading the food until about 5 o’clock. And they take up a collection and give the money to the Society each month.”

Father Jim Sexstone, of Holy Trinity in Peachtree City, and Father Raymond Horan, Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur, have been vigorous in getting their parishioners to join the program, Mrs. Oberg says.

The Obergs couldn’t continue without the regulars who have been supporting the food program since the beginning. Among these regulars is an anonymous giver who includes a note praising and thanking God with the $20, $10, and $5 dollar bills.

Sometimes the anonymous gift, always in the same handwriting and with Saint Vincent de Paul box number as the return address, come “two or three times a month. This picks up lots for people who are not sending it,” Mrs. Oberg says. Regretfully there are people who agree to give $5 monthly then later stop sending their gift.

But Mrs. Oberg, in her lively rounds as a parishioner at Christ the King and volunteer at St. Joseph’s Hospital, is a reminder to some of the forgetful faithful. The Five-for-Food compartment in her wallet is crammed with bills and personal checks she’s glad to personally accept from friends and acquaintances.

There is one expense of the program she objects to vehemently. “We have to pay five percent sales tax on this food. When you’re trying to do what President Reagan says we should do, private sector giving, it’s unfair that we have to give to the state so we can give it away.”

In the early months of the program, food was distributed to the needy in regular shopping bags. After seeing how many people had to come on foot, how the handicapped had to struggle with their parcels, and how elderly grandmothers tried to carry bags and small grandchildren, the Obergs began buying sturdy shopping bags with carrying handles.

“The bags cost 12 to 13 cents apiece. But we have to have them so people can tote the stuff home. It’s just part of the program,” Mrs. Oberg says.

Mrs. Guckenberger says the program fed 121 families from March 1 to 27. “Many have three to eight people in the family. There are more six and eight member families in need of food now than I’ve seen in a long time.” She notes there are more people who used to be in middle-income brackets in need of food these days.

“We have the best food pantry in town. The food we give families is nutritious. If they stretch it, they can make it last more than a week. We try to put things together as meals.”

Mrs. Oberg joins in. “We try not to have anything that requires eggs for preparation. We try very hard to get food that people can eat.”

And supplies are adequate, she says, when the computer at Fulton County Department of Family and Children’s Services malfunctions and people don’t receive their necessary food stamps, they come to SVDP for food to tide them over. Transients, migrant workers and the homeless, lacking kitchens and can openers, can get sustenance in pop top packages.

The Obergs are a great example of people who care about their fellow men and women. They offer others a chance to share in the work they do so cheerfully. The opportunity is as easy as writing a check and sending it to: Five for Food, St. Vincent de Paul Society, P.O. Box 10494, Atlanta 30310.