This is the fifth in a series of stories highlighting charitable giving and the agencies in need in the Miss-Lou.

NATCHEZ — Each week there is one thing written in ink and circled twice on Clark Feiser’s calendar.

Each Thursday, Feiser has an appointment as a delivery driver for the Natchez Stewpot. And there isn’t much that can keep him from loading his car with Styrofoam containers and driving his route.

“Thursday is my day,” Feiser said. “And my wife knows that’s my day so she doesn’t plan anything or schedule anything for that day.”

Stewpot Director Louis Gunning said volunteers like Feiser are the lifeblood of his organization.

“We only have one paid worker, and that is our cook,” Gunning said.

The Stewpot provides lunches for people who are, for one reason or another, unable to provide food for themselves. Meals are served seven days a week in the Stewpot’s dinning room. Food is also delivered on a daily basis to shut-ins.

Serving lunches inside the Stewpot dining room and delivering meals to the homebound is work done entirely by volunteers.

And during the holidays, especially on Christmas day, Gunning said the atmosphere at the Stewpot is the more the merrier.

On a typical day, the Stewpot assembles between 260 and 280 meals, but that number goes up on special days. On Thanksgiving, Gunning said 315 meals were served, and he expects Christmas to be more of the same.

“On Christmas and Thanksgiving we give meals to people that we don’t normally give them to,” Gunning said. “We have the capability, and we know the people need it.”

Helping people who are truly in need is the main reason Feiser became a volunteer shortly after moving to Natchez from Pennsylvania.

“I really enjoy getting to talk to the folks,” Feiser said. “Sometimes I think I’m the only person they see that day. Unfortunately you sort of can’t spend as much time with them as you’d like.”

But Feiser does take what little time he can spare to get to know the people on his route.

“I deliver meals to Mrs. James. She is 103-years-old, and some days I think she is getting around better than me,” he said.

“She always says to me ‘You brought me lunch and a cold beer.’ Even though we just take her a soda or water, she always says ‘you brought me a cold beer.’”

Gunning said he has several dedicated volunteers like Feiser, but there is always a need for more. Currently, Gunning needs four more volunteers to deliver meals.

“We are running short right now, and after the first of the year we will be two more short,” Gunning said.

While the volunteer labor force keeps the meals rolling out the doors, without food to serve there would be no reason to open the doors each day.

Gunning said donations of canned food items and shelf stable goods are always used and always appreciated.

“We get a lot of food donations from organizations and schools from canned food drives,” Gunning said. “That is good because it is usually stuff we can keep and serve later.

“We use the food we receive during this time to get us through the rest of the year.”

But, despite the influx of food donations, Gunning said it is never enough.

“We still have to supplement the food that is donated,” he said. “We buy locally with the wholesalers for the food we need, but that costs money.”

Gunning said he is always happy to see the holiday months come, because he knows his organization is on many people’s Santa lists.

“This is the time of year that people are very generous with their money,” Gunning said. “We get a lot of gifts from lots of people but they only give once a year.

“Just like we are building up our food supply, we are also building up the money supply.”

After the holiday months have passed, it is Gunning’s job to make the Christmas money last for the next 12 months. He does that by keeping costs as low as possible and having only one paid worker, but some things are unavoidable.

“It cost a lot to air condition the building during the summer,” he said. “That is where we use a lot of the money we get during Christmastime.”