Osvaldo Figueroa, Mother Cabrini Food Pantry's 'meat man,' still volunteering at 96

LORAIN — Osvaldo Figueroa of Lorain turned 96 on Friday. On Saturday, he was where can be found most Saturdays: At his post at Mother Cabrini Food Pantry in Lorain, helping to feed the hungry as Mother Cabrini would have it. "Papi," as he's known, has been volunteering there for nearly 20 years, his daughter Millie Torres said. Figueroa is up early three Saturdays a month, itching to get out the door and back to his post as "the meat man" — the guy responsible for putting frozen meats into boxes for recipients whose cars line up behind St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Catholic Church on Homewood Drive. Torres delayed him briefly on Saturday so that fellow volunteers had time to decorate the chair he sometimes rests in with blue crepe paper streamers. They also pinned a blue "Birthday Boy" ribbon to his shirt. Figueroa nodded enthusiastically when a reporter asked if he was the celebrated "meat man" and birthday boy. "Yeah!" he said, with a big smile. Torres said her father started volunteering at the food pantry almost two decades ago. When his great-grandaughter showed interest, he brought her along. After she learned the job, she trained Torres. Five family members now volunteer, in a sort of "pay-it-forward family tradition," Torres said. Figueroa said he loves to help out, and it didn't take long for a visitor to see his enthusiasm was contagious. "He inspires me every day," volunteer Diana Milete said. Figueroa also is popular among the food pantry recipients, who remember him and ask after him, Torres said. When he isn't volunteering, he loves to garden and to cook for his family. Food pantry Director Michelle Richards has the distribution system running like a machine with volunteers coming and going, pushing carts and carrying boxes. "Everyone knows their stations" once the food is delivered from Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio and cars start to line up outside, Richards said. Volunteers from The Knights of Columbus and Elyria Catholic High School students seeking community service hours often help out, too. Mother Cabrini Food Pantry serves 1,300 families every month entirely with volunteer help, Richards said. "Everyone pitches in. It's such a good group," Milete said. "It gives me such a good feeling, to be able to help people." Frances Xavier Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Italy in the late 19th century. She immigrated to the United States in 1887 where she and her order founded charitable institutions including hospitals and schools. Known as Mother Cabrini, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen and in 1946 was the first American canonized by the Vatican, which later named her the patron saint of immigrants. The Mother Cabrini Food Pantry is open from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. the second, third and fourth Saturdays of the month. All are welcome. For more information, call (440) 277-7266. Mother Cabrini's mission, Richards said, was "to make sure people did not go without food." She said the food pantry hasn't closed, "not once in 20 years," and not even during the COVID-19 pandemic. "This is our ministry, but it's also our family," Richards said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com