Brett Huntsman has always enjoyed helping others. For him, this passion began at the age of nine after his house was struck by lightning.
“We lost everything,” Brett said. “The only thing I had left was the clothes on my back.”
With a total of 10 family members, Brett’s parents and siblings were able to rebound from this devastating disaster with help from their neighbors.
“Our family relied on the community for help,” Brett said. “From that moment on, I always said that I wanted to give back to people when they were in desperate need.”
So when Brett and his wife Beth had an opportunity to get involved with Perry Helping Perry, they didn’t hesitate. For the past 11 years, they have managed Perry Helping Perry’s food program.
“I think it’s amazing how much our community comes together to support each other,” Beth said. “Perry is just a really caring community.”
Perry Helping Perry typically serves 120 to 150 families per distribution. And over the years, Brett and Beth have developed special relationships with the people they serve. “They’re not just our clients,” Beth said. “They are our neighbors and friends. We have seen people get their degrees and have children. We were even invited to a wedding.”
Although Perry Helping Perry was established many years ago, the organization only became a partner of the Foodbank in 2019.
“We’re very thankful for the Foodbank and what they provide to us,” Beth said. “I don’t know how we would have been able to do it this past year without the Foodbank since we increased our distributions and the amount of food going out due to the pandemic.”
More distributions mean more people are getting help. And for Brett and Beth, that is what it’s all about. “Helping people has just always been one of the things that we do,” Beth said.