Group celebrates 25 years of volunteerism

Every weekday, John Guiling collects the mail and makes the bank deposit for the Round Rock Area Serving Center. In his more than 21 years of volunteering at the nonprofit, Guiling said he has seen donations ranging from $150,000 grants from the St. David's Foundation to much smaller amounts.

"I've had donations as small as one penny and one can [of food]," he said.

Donations and volunteers are the lifeblood of the Serving Center, an organization that was incorporated 25 years ago through a collaboration of local churches.

Guiling is one of about 250 volunteers that man the thrift store, organize the food pantry, answer phones, sort donations and interview clients about their financial needs related to rent, utilities and medical prescriptions.

A total of four and a half paid positions staff the nonprofit that serves the communities of Round Rock, Hutto and Wells Branch. In 2011, the Serving Center assisted 59,771 people—a task that Executive Director Lori Scott said would be impossible without the more than 53,000 hours of combined service from volunteers last year.

"We wouldn't be able to open the doors without them," she said.

To celebrate its 25th year of existence, the Serving Center is hosting a volunteer appreciation dinner April 16 at 6 p.m. The event will be held at a place important in the formation of the organization—the pavilion at Saint William Catholic Church at 620 Round Rock West Drive, where one of the first planning meetings was held to organize the Serving Center on March 6, 1986.

Vera and Joe Bloomer led the effort to found the Serving Center, operating it out of their garage and car trunk until they obtained space from the American Legion on Georgetown Street. In 1988, the Serving Center moved to its current location along East Main Street.

A summary from 1990 showed 1,110 instances of food being given out that year. Currently, the Serving Center assists about 1,200 people per month out of its food pantry, Scott said.

After completing construction on a new building in 2006, the Serving Center also opened Treasures, a clothing and furniture resale store that brought in about $250,000 in gross sales in 2011. The success of the store enabled the Serving Center to give away $320,058 last year in vouchers to families in need of clothes and furniture.

To prepare for future growth, the Serving Center purchased 0.8 acres behind its headquarters in January 2012. For now, the Serving Center will continue to operate in its current space.

Guiling said the Serving Center not only assists southern Williamson County residents who have fallen on hard times, but it also benefits the volunteers.

"It's been a joy for me because I needed a place to exercise my desire to be of help to people in some way, and you can't just go out in the blind and do that—you've got to have a way," he said.

Round Rock Area Serving Center, 1099 E. Main St. Round Rock, 244-2431, www.rrasc.org