SOUTH BOSTON -- On Thursday and Friday mornings, people carrying empty bags or carts line up on the sidewalk around St. Monica Church in South Boston. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., volunteers greet them and let them enter the lower hall one at a time.

Inside, they walk past tables piled with different types of food -- milk and juice, bread and pasta, fruits and vegetables, meat and hot meals. One serving of each item is set out within easy reach, though clients are allowed to take more if they wish. Like in a grocery store, they choose items according to their needs and preferences. Volunteers are present to assist them and ask if there are any items they would like to receive in the future.

A plaque on the wall denotes the space as St. Monica's Community Hall, dedicated to Ed and Jean Shifflett. The dedication took place when Ed Shifflett, the parish custodian, was dying of cancer. But even after his passing in February 2021, his widow Jean has continued her involvement in St. Monica's Kitchen, providing food for the hungry and community for those on the margins.

Jean Shifflett, who lives in Braintree, got involved with the food pantry about seven years ago. She had just retired, and after a month of wondering what to do with her newfound free time, she asked her husband about volunteering in the parish where he worked.

"It's hard to summarize everything that Jean and the team here do, because in some ways it breaks out from the traditional mold of the food pantry," said Deacon Paul Kline, who serves in the South Boston-Seaport Collaborative, which includes St. Monica Parish.

Even outside the food pantry's official hours, the volunteers are busy every day, unpacking donated food and making home deliveries. If someone calls with an urgent need for food, or assistance with other necessities, such as clothing, someone will step up to help them immediately.

The volunteers estimate that St. Monica's Kitchen serves about 200 households each week, and distributes over 30,000 pounds of food each month. They used to have clients sign in when they arrived to pick up food, but after the coronavirus pandemic began, they stopped taking names and simply kept a head count. Clients can come as frequently as they want, and they do not need to prove their eligibility for food assistance.

Early in the pandemic, volunteers created a contactless way of distributing food: they prepared bags of groceries and placed them outside one at a time for clients to pick up. They have also, in the past, prepared bags of ready-to-eat food for homeless people, who would not have access to a kitchen or cooking utensils.

St. Monica's Kitchen is funded mainly through the donations of individuals. Deacon Kline said they have sometimes received grants from agencies, and people often make donations in honor of loved ones who have died. They also receive deliveries of food from local food banks, and sometimes hold collections for items that are difficult to obtain from them.

The food pantry is one of the many aspects of the Good Samaritan Ministry in the South Boston-Seaport Catholic Collaborative. Other manifestations include ministries for the homeless and those struggling with or recovering from addiction. The collaborative hosts 13 AA meetings each week and also rents office space to the Gavin Foundation, a program for substance abuse education, prevention, and treatment.

The way Deacon Kline describes it, the Good Samaritan Ministry is meant to foster peace and community in a neighborhood where many people are wounded and vulnerable.

"The Good Samaritan Ministry at St. Monica's Kitchen seeks to apply the wisdom of that parable without compromise. We seek to create a sanctuary of hospitality where all are welcome," he said.

The ministry is not limited to one parish or collaborative. Volunteers hail from all the parishes of South Boston, from St. Brigid and Gate of Heaven to St. Peter's Lithuanian Parish and the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage.

Jean Shifflett said they are able to call up members of the different parishes whenever they need help.

"Nobody stops and says, 'Well, that's not my church.' Everybody just says, 'What do you need us to do?' It's just so heartwarming that everybody reaches out to help somebody else," she said.

She recalled how, after her husband died, someone she had befriended through the Good Samaritan Ministry approached her after Mass and said he would be there for her if she wanted to talk about her loss.

"I'm thinking, 'This is what we were doing for him, and now it's reversed,'" she said.

While volunteers are available to talk to people visiting the food pantry, the best opportunities for conversation and connection are during the Good Samaritan Ministry's "peace breakfasts," community meals that take place each month.

"All of these things are avenues into hearing people's stories and creating the experience of belonging," Deacon Kline said.

He said that while it is important to provide people with food, the "greater gift they offer" is getting to know their neighbors.

"That's the greatest gift of all, creating the experience of belonging to a church, a community, a neighborhood, where people are known by name and where they are treated with respect and with compassion," he said.

More information about the Good Samaritan Ministry at St. Monica's Kitchen is available at www.sbscatholic.org/good-samaritan-ministry.