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Brandon Congregation Mourns Loss Of Food Pantry Leader

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2009

PAT LEJEUNE

BRANDON - It was business as usual for the more than 40 volunteers of the Nativity Food Pantry as they prepared grocery carts filled with groceries Thursday for 175 needy families at Nativity Catholic Church.

But the cheerful banter that normally accompanies their preparations was absent. Earlier that day, they had received a double jolt of bad news.

They were still reeling from news of the death of longtime food pantry volunteer Mary Wallace, 86, when parish priest the Rev. Arthur Proulx announced that the pantry's executive director, Pat LeJeune, wasn't expected to survive her cancer.

LeJeune, a well-known Brandon resident, died Sunday at age 68; the same day, Nativity parishioners celebrated a funeral Mass for Wallace.

The church posted an announcement of LeJeune's death on its Web site, aware that hundreds of parishioners had been praying for the woman who was such an integral part of the nonprofit outreach ministry, which provides food to more than 80 church ministries and nonprofit food pantries in east Hillsborough County.

"It's just so tragic, so sad," said food bank volunteer and friend Carolyn Thomas. "It's a devastating loss."

Sister Constance Arsenault started the Nativity Food Pantry in 1983 as a service project of the Nativity Friendship Club. In 1996, when the pantry acquired a truck, it began providing food to other food pantries.

When Arsenault retired in 1999, she brought LeJeune on board as the organization's executive director, the only paid employee. LeJeune formerly worked for another nonprofit, Hillsborough Area Retarded Citizens.

With LeJeune at the helm, the food bank outgrew its space at Nativity Catholic Church and moved to a warehouse at 13295 U.S. 92 E. in Dover. The pantry now supplies 3.2 million pounds of food to more than 12,000 needy families each year.

To help fund the pantry, LeJeune helped organize an annual fundraiser at the church, enlisting local restaurants to provide samples of their specialties. Nearly 800 people attended the Taste of 2008, raising about $8,000.

Tess Falkenbach, who worked closely with LeJeune at the food bank for a number of years, said they all knew LeJeune was seriously ill when she was unable to attend the St. Nicholas giveaway in December when the Friendship Club members distribute gifts to all the children registered at the food pantry.

"She loved what she did and never stopped talking about the food bank and pantry. It was in her heart. It was her mission in life to do everything to feed as many people as she could. But the Christmas giveaway was her favorite thing," said Falkenbach. "I knew when she missed it that there was something terribly wrong. She would have been there if it was possible."

She said LeJeune, who never had a negative thing to say about anyone, was modest and never wanted to take credit, preferring to give her volunteers the spotlight.

"She never liked to bring attention to herself," said Falkenbach. "But everyone knows she was the one who did it all."

LeJeune would register eligible volunteers as members of the county's Department of Aging Services' Retired Senior and Volunteer Program, and took time to nominate outstanding volunteers each year for recognition.

Among those recognized was Wallace. She received the RSVP Dedication Award in 2006. A retired Air Force colonel and former chief of nursing at MacDill Air Force Base, Wallace was among Arsenault's first food pantry recruits and was a founding member of the Nativity Friendship Club.

"The Lord has been good to me and I'll continue doing this as long as I'm able," Wallace said in 2006 of her volunteerism.

LeJeune was fond of saying that she would have been perfectly happy to lose her job because there was no longer a need for the food bank.

"I wish the Nativity Food Pantry and Food Bank would go out of business because it could find no more hungry boys," she said. "Sadly, my wish won't come true anytime soon, if ever."

"She's going to be very, very missed, both her and Mary," said Falkenbach. "She had a rapport with so many people and so many contacts. And she was loved by so many people. But she would want us to carry on and keep the food bank and pantry going. So we're just going to do the best that we can."

LeJeune's family will receive friends at Nativity Catholic Church, 705 E. Brandon Blvd., from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the main sanctuary, with interment will follow at Limona Cemetery in Brandon.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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