2023 Locals Love Us Favorite Volunteer: Michele Wilkins

Sharing the Harvest food pantry volunteer Michele Wilkins expressed surprise when told she was voted a 2023 Locals Love Us Favorite Volunteer by The Picayune Magazine readers and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners. When asked to pose for a photo, she balked.
“I don’t do this by myself,” she said. “This is teamwork.” 

She insisted the photo include the other volunteers packing bags with canned goods from the food pantry’s aisles on a recent Tuesday. The pantry is located on the grounds of First Baptist Church of Kingsland at 3435 RR 1431. 

“I wish everybody were here,” she said. “This is just a handful compared with Thursdays.” 
Sharing the Harvest volunteers bag the groceries on Tuesdays and hand them out as families line up in the parking lot on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The pantry provides food to about 450 people a week. Volunteers come from across the Highland Lakes to help.

Wilkins and her family vacationed in the Kingsland area during their working years. She and her husband moved to Kingsland permanently in 1999. A neighbor urged her to help with Sharing the Harvest.

“Working with the people and volunteers we have, it’s wonderful to be part of it,” she said. “We know we are doing good for our community and that’s huge, helping others.”

Her devotion to the program grows weekly as she sees the effects of rising grocery prices on area families. 

“There are a lot of people hurting,” she said. “Prices of everything have gone up. It’s making it hard to get food.” 

Also voted Favorite Volunteer were Martelle Luedecke, a professional photographer who volunteers her time taking photos at Burnet Consolidated Independent School District events and more, and R.V. Turney, a member of the VFW Post 10376 in Marble Falls, who delivers food to families in need. 

Flip through the digital 2023 Locals Love Us magazine for a full list of winners.
suzanne@thepicayune.com