Jacqui Merriman, coordinator at St. Joseph’s Family Center,
prepares to retire due to illness
By Sheila Sanchez, Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – As a homeless woman from Oregon now living in Gilroy with no money or food, Darlene Hunkin recalls going to the St. Joseph’s Family Center’s food pantry to receive a warm meal.
It was there that she met the humble and compassionate Jacqui Merriman.
“She’s an awesome person. She’s one of a kind. She goes out of her way to help others,” said Hunkin, who now helps sort food in the tiny kitchen that’s become a symbol of hope for those stricken with poverty in South County.
“This lady has a heart for everybody,” Hunkin continued, tears welling up in her eyes. “We’re really going to miss her.”
As the food pantry coordinator for St. Joseph’s Family Center since September 1997, Merriman, 61, has been warming up the small kitchen on Church Street with enough food and charity to lift the spirits of not just the homeless, but the city’s low-income community.
She’s retiring at the end of the month due to Sjogren’s Syndrome, a chronic incurable degenerative immune disorder, which affects about two million people in the country each year. The small, unpretentious Merriman was diagnosed with the disease last June, after she went for a medical checkup when she could not shake a common cold and discovered purple spots on her toes.
“If I had had my way I would have been here until they carried me out, but that choice has been taken out of my hands and I’ve given this to God who has a plan for me,” said the brown-haired spectacled Merriman, with a generous smile. “It was very hard to give up. I was in so many tears for so long before I finally let go.”
Vicky Martin, a San Martin homemaker who’s been volunteering at the food pantry since 2002, will replace Merriman in January. Merriman has spent the last two months training Martin on how to run the quaint food room. After she retires, she plans to volunteer Thursday mornings at the pantry.
Born and raised in Gilroy, Merriman graduated from Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill. She met her husband, Craig, in 1962. They were married in 1965.
Merriman began working outside the home after raising her son Sean and informally adopting many runaway children whom she welcomed into her home as an act of kindness. “We cleaned them up and kept them until we found a safe place for them to be,” Merriman said.
To this day, people tease her about having the “revolving door” at her house because of her hospitable nature.
“By making a difference in someone else’s life you always make a difference in your own life,” she said.
She started working in the evenings at Specialized Bicycle where she labored for nine years.
After praying for a job to serve others, she saw the food pantry position advertised on the bulletin of St. Mary’s Parish. Right away, Merriman knew the small announcement was the answer to her pleas.
Merriman worked hard during the first years in the pantry to organize it well with shelves, refrigerators, freezers and large storage units.
“The last eight years have been absolutely wonderful. I love it everyday,” Merriman said.
Merriman’s days at the pantry have always began at 7am. As soon as she arrives she makes sandwiches for those she calls her “little homeless men.” When they don’t show up for the brown paper lunch bags, she looks for them in the all-too familiar sad homeless spots around town afraid something has happened to them.
The men, most often, don’t qualify for the agency’s food program, which is meant to only be supplemental helping people “stretch their food dollar,” she explained.
She “acclimates” the room so that it’s “happy and safe” for the about two dozen volunteers who work there, especially when it gets busy. On average, the pantry feeds about 30 families a day. During busy times, the pantry can sometimes serve up to 100 families a day.
Since the National Guard Armory, which acts as the homeless shelter in town in the winter, opened Nov. 28, the food pantry is seeing more clients, she said. The lunch program for the homeless averages between 12 and 25 bags a day. Sometimes more lunches are made as needed.
Merriman orders the pantry’s inventory. She determines how much food will be needed to feed about 500 families a month. All families helped at the kitchen are Gilroy or San Martin residents living below the poverty level who receive a cart full of food every 16 days.
The food, which mostly comes from San Jose’s nonprofit Second Harvest Food Bank, is delivered to the center twice a month.
All program participants receive fresh fruit, vegetables and staples. Once the size of the family is determined, the families receive milk, meat, eggs, tortillas and bread. Families with children receive diapers, formula and baby food.
Human service providers say Merriman has transcended the stigma associated to poverty and homelessness connecting with the needy in a special way that often opens the door to self-sufficiency for program clients.
“We want to know what their situations are. We want to know if they’re doing well or not. We want to know if there are other things that we can do to help them,” Merriman said.
Mary Ann Sorci, a volunteer in the food room since April, called Merriman, “fantastic.”
“She works well with every one. She’s friendly and we’re sad to see her leave, but it’s the best for her health.”
Hector Lopez, a former client of Victory Outreach, a rehabilitation center for men in Gilroy, remembered meeting Merriman in 2001 when he was on the street. He’s no longer homeless and volunteers in the food room several days a week.
“She’s a beautiful human being,” he said. “She’ll give you the shirt off her back if you ask her to.”
Martin, who feels trepidation stepping into Merriman’s shoes, said when she began volunteering at the pantry with her son she knew immediately that the homeless advocate was somebody special.
“She’s very friendly, inviting and warm to everybody,” she said. “I remember thinking that I would like to be like that lady. It’s very rare to find someone with such a big heart.”
St. Joseph’s Family Center’s mission is to improve the quality of life of those living in poverty through comprehensive direct-aid services that help establish food security, shelter and opportunities for eventual self-sufficiency.
St. Joseph’s Family Center has been the primary resource for families and individuals in south Santa Clara County in need of urgent assistance for more than 40 years. St. Joseph’s programs are possible through a collaboration of churches, businesses and individuals who provide a central location for people in a crisis or emergency situation.
Although Merriman is pained by having to leave, she looks forward to spending more time with her husband, who’s been retired for four years, and giving more attention to her three cats and one hunting dog.
David Cox, the center’s executive director, called her “the face” of compassion.
“It has been the most rewarding job I’ve ever had,” Merriman said. “The look on people’s eyes and the look on children’s faces when you give them something that they probably don’t get all the time is priceless.”
For more information on St. Joseph’s Family Center’s food pantry, 7950 Church St., Ste. A, Gilroy, 95020, call 842-6662, or log onto www.stjosephsgilroy.org.
