An Unexpected Treat

Last month Sr. Adelia Milligan, OSF at the Hernando Social Service Office received a phone call from Hernando City Hall. They wanted to know if Sr. Adelia would like 160 bags of grapefruit.

Sr. Adelia got the call because the staff at City Hall know that Sacred Heart Southern Missions delivers food to poor families in the Hernando area. A truck driver delivering 160 bags of grapefruit to a grocery store in Hernando arrived too late for the store to accept delivery of the grapefruit. The driver called City Hall to see if they knew anyone who would take the 160 bags which would spoil if left on the truck.

“I told them I would be glad to take the bags of grapefruit and distribute them,” said Sr. Adelia, who then set out with her coworker, Sr. Antonienne, to visit clients of Catholic Social Services and offer a bag containing nine or ten grapefruits. Many clients accepted the bags with gratitude. Some clients asked if their neighbors could receive a bag even though the neighbor was not a client.

“We were happy to offer the grapefruit to non-clients,” said Sr. Adelia. “We met so many people over the three days it took to distribute all the fruit. Fresh fruit is an important part of nutrition, but what made our clients really happy was the fact we thought of them and came to see them at their homes. The clients knew then that we think about them even when we don’t see them.”