30 Years Of Saturdays Volunteering Is Time Well Spent For Rockland Man

PEARL RIVER, NY — For 30 years, Jim Waters has spent most Saturday mornings handing out food around Spring Valley.

How has this sat with his wife?

"It's been the topic of a few conversations," he admitted with laughter.

Laughing comes easily to this gentle man who has watched a volunteer program change and grow — who has anchored a program that has changed and grown in Rockland County.

In 1993, a couple of guys at his church — Nauraushaun Presbyterian in Pearl River — told him that on Saturday mornings the Salvation Army in Spring Valley cooked a meal and took it to about 25 people who congregated near the train station.

He worked for an international consulting firm at the time, the kids were growing up, it seemed like a compassionate thing to do. So he volunteered to help.

"I'd get to the Salvation Army at 7:30 a.m.," he told Patch. "We’d make a big pot of hot food and bring it out. A parking lot right near the railroad track is where we used to serve. For the first 15 years I was pretty much there by myself — but it was so small then."

Over the years the project morphed. Other volunteers came, the Salvation Army liaisons were rotated in and out, the group fed different folks — and more of them — and away from the parking lot.

"Over the years, as we moved from the 90s into the early aughts, it grew and changed," he said.

By 2020, they were giving a meal a week to more than 100 day laborers and several families.

Waters, adamant that he is not a cook, is very appreciative of those who are. "One of the guys on our team is actually a CIA graduate, and other is an amateur but very accomplished, born in Peru, brought a special touch," he said.

The hot meal was in containers, no longer just that one big pot.

"But handing it to people in the COVID world, that wasn't possible," he said. When the pandemic began in 2020, the program stopped for several months; and when they started back up, they made more changes.

Now on Saturdays the volunteers make about 150 bag lunches, "with a sandwich, something sweet, some kind of fruit and a drink, a cold drink or hot chocolate depending on the season," he said.

And they put together packages of boxed food for about 40 families. They get a lot of their supplies from the Rockland food bank, he said, extolling their work.

On his way over, Waters swings by to pick up about 25 snack bags packed by a local pastor and his wife who learned about the program and wanted to help out. Then the group of four to six volunteers packs up the lunches and the staples and loads up.

One volunteer takes packages to about 20 families. The others — Waters drives the Salvation Army truck — not that he likes to but he's the one most comfortable doing it — make six to seven stops for the rest of the families and near where many of the day laborers live. They try to keep moving, but it's not always easy, and who's the problem?

"If I’m not watched carefully and kept on a leash I will just chat with these guys," Waters admitted.

The rounds take about 90 minutes, he said. "There’s a lot less cleanup now that we have sandwiches."

Waters notes the courtesy and resilience of the people he serves. "These are people who uprooted their lives for something better."

And he counts his blessings. "I had a steady home, access to college and graduate school," he said.

At 71, retired and with grandchildren, he's also grateful for all the volunteers, including the ones who sub when he's away and the ones who have become deep friends.

There's also the young ones. "We've had kids from Immaculate Heart Academy in north Jersey. One of the guys on the team, all his daughters went there," he said. "We’ve had kids from the Pearl River school district and other schools, doing their community service. And then for several years we had Mormons. They were the greatest young people you’d ever want to meet."

And he has deep respect for the Salvation Army, an organization he knew nothing about before he became connected through the program, and who honored him five years ago when he hit a quarter-century volunteering.

"The Army’s just great because they don’t proselytize — they’re just there to serve. Their bywords are serve and save," he said. "There's one big family, one God, and we’re all brothers and sisters. That’s part of why I do this."

SEE ALSO: Steering Much-Needed Donations To Rockland Food, Meal Programs