OWENSVILLE — The Helping Hands Outreach Center’s staff and volunteers on Oct. 23 loaded boxes into the trunks of around 200 Gasconade County residents. They did the work of unloading a full truck, filling the boxes with pantry items and transporting them to the vehicles quickly, efficiently and with smiles on their faces.

When the truck arrived in the morning from the St. Louis Food Bank, loaded up with 12 pallets of food, weighing over five tons, around a dozen cars were already lined up down Kosark Road for the Mobile Market drive through event.

Within the hour, they had unloaded the truck and began to fill empty banana boxes with the help of around a dozen volunteers from the community and a dozen students from the Owensville High School Student Council(OHS STUCO). By that time, the line of cars down Kosark went as far as the eye could see from the facility.

The student volunteers come from a different group at the Owensville High School (OHS) each time Helping Hands holds the event. OHS teacher Melanie Behrens led the group and lent a hand of her own on Friday. She said the student council often takes part in organizing, fundraisers and community oriented volunteer work.

The volunteers filled the boxes on carts and rolled them out in front of the facility where three cars at a time -— usually with their trunks already open in preparation — rolled up and were loaded with one box of food for each household. Some picked up boxes for neighbors or others who could not make the drive to the facility.

A volunteer’s van and another’s car were filled with 12 boxes that Helping Hands drove to individuals who currently have trouble leaving their homes.

The boxes contained meat, vegetables, bread, fruit and various snacks and deserts. Helping Hands never knows exactly what will come on the truck from the food bank, but it always consists of a rather healthy variety, said Executive Director Sheila Cahill.

By the time the line of cars slowed to a trickle, Helping Hands had gone through most of their empty boxes and the majority of the 11,000 pounds of food. Cahill said that anything leftover goes into their storeroom to be given away during the week.

Helping Hands is located at 3522 Kosark Road and is open for regular service on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as well as the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon. They accept monetary donations, unexpired food and personal care items.

Helping Hands served 238 households and 648 individuals at the pantry during the month of September with help from 50 different volunteers who provided 600 hours of work. They also helped 16 people dealing with an emergency that needed food assistance. The Mobile Market event that month loaded out 201 boxes for a total of 528 individuals, according to their board meeting report in October.

Over 4,800 pounds of food and items were donated by Walmart in September, with another 400 coming from Dollar General and nearly 400 more in donations from local residents.

During the event on Friday, Masonic Lodge member Ken Schlottach presented Helping hands with a $1,500 check from the masons to support Operation Christmas. Each year, during the holidays, Helping Hands provides food and gifts for those in need.

Helping Hands will be holding another drive through food giveaway at around 10:30 on Friday, Nov. 13. The exact time they begin filling cars mostly depends on when the truck arrives at their facility from St. Louis. Anyone interested can follow Helping Hands on Facebook for updates the day of the event.