Gavin Cranor escorts neighbors through the tight aisles to shop for food, starting with bottled milk donated by Hildebrand Farms Dairy and ending with frozen meats. 

Gavin is a weekly volunteer at the Southside Filling Station, a food pantry by SENT, a nonprofit fostering holistic community development in Topeka. He is part of Working Men of Christ Ministries, a year-long mentoring and transitional housing program for the formerly incarcerated. 

Building community connection is an important aspect of his reintegration into society. 

“It’s a good sort of environment. I’m very useful here,” Gavin said. “I’ve been coming here doing service work. I’ve done everything from doing the food pantry, taking intake, just being involved with people, getting to know them, putting a smile on their face.” 

Neighbors in need living in and around the Hi-Crest neighborhood include families, seniors and the unhoused living in a nearby encampment. 

“Some people are living under the bridge, and they’re striving to find one meal, and sometimes they haven’t had a meal in six days or seven or two weeks or a month,” Gavin said. “Having something like this is such a benefit because it allows them to know that we are here.” 

Gavin has also experienced stigma for his time served but encourages neighbors in need to ask for help. 

“I would say a valuable part of how we can get over the stigma of embarrassment is to be humble, to know that we’re imperfect perfections,” Gavin said. “That means that we know that we are not perfect, but we have the ability to reach, and so we know that we can grow. To know that there are resources available for you to get (food) is such a blessing.”