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He smelled something burning not long after he turned from Route 5 onto 488. In his rearview mirror, he saw the flames.<\/span><\/p>\n Pulling a full trailer, less than 15 minutes from his destination, Archie Verdiglione had a problem. He pulled to the shoulder of the road and managed to put out the fire pouring from one of the trailer wheels.<\/span><\/p>\n Dry bearings had overheated, igniting the flames. He could have waited there on the side of the road and called for help, but Archie had a trailer full of food for the hungry. He promised to deliver it and he was going to keep that promise \u2014 as close to on-time as humanly possible.<\/span><\/p>\n So he simply removed the tire and limped along on the shoulder of the road with the trailer on three wheels until he reached the LifeStyles office in La Plata.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat had to be divine intervention,\u201d Archie said. \u201cThat trailer was full that day. That was the only trouble in a lot of years. Been in some bad weather, some rain, some snow. The Lord was with us all the way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Archie and his gold Chevrolet Silverado made countless trips, delivering surplus food from USDA warehouses in Prince Frederick or Broome\u2019s Island to stock local food pantries. It was a mission he began in 1997, delivering food to Calvary United Methodist Church, which he attended at the time. <\/span><\/p>\n He later began delivering to LifeStyles and to La Plata United Methodist Church.<\/span><\/p>\n The deliveries usually contained cases upon cases of canned goods, as well as the occasional collection of vegetables, frozen food or milk. He started by loading up the back of his pickup truck, but he later invested in a 12-foot flat-bed, four-wheeled trailer with a lay-down ramp.<\/span><\/p>\n Year after year, trip after trip, Archie always delivered. He retired in 2019 after helping feed hundreds, maybe thousands of people over the years, setting a standard that continues to inspire LifeStyles and our volunteers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cArchie volunteered without hesitation to make sure there was food on our pantry shelves,\u201d LifeStyles Executive Director Sandy Washington said. He provided LifeStyles and many others years of dedication.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Picking up the food was easy enough. USDA workers with a front-end loader would place the pallets on the trailer. But upon arrival at the food pantry, each box had to be unloaded by hand and carried to its destination.<\/span><\/p>\n The delivery might be 200 cases of canned goods, followed by sacks of potatoes and maybe a few 100-pound bags of rice.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey helped us put it on, but we took it off,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was heavy lifting.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Then he rattles off a list of his most consistent helpers \u2014 Jim Harris, Neil Johnson, Garth Bowling, John Sorenson, Jim Wills, Art Smith. Once he got to LifeStyles, Danny Merrick or James Zito often waited to help unload.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI had some awful nice guys and willing volunteers along the way,\u201d Archie said.<\/span><\/p>\n They did it all simply because it was something they could do to help those who needed food. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSandy Washington\u2019s crew has fed a lot of people,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, I think, to help other people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Archie retired after more than 30 years as an HVAC professional at the U.S. Government Printing Office and the National Gallery of Art. In 2019, he also retired from making his food deliveries, passing the torch to the next generation.<\/span><\/p>\n He has earned the rest. <\/span><\/p>\n He still has the Silverado and the trailer. They served him well over the years. They were the definition of reliability. Just like Archie.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA lot of miles,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of miles.”<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column] \u00a0 He smelled something burning not long after he turned from Route 5 onto 488. In his rearview mirror, he saw the flames. Pulling a full trailer, less than 15 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n When Amazon opens a facility in a new location, the company often looks to find a local charitable organization to support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The relatively new and little-known program is called Neighborgood, and it\u2019s a way of giving back and thanking the community for welcoming Amazon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheila Smith, a Charles County resident who has worked for Amazon for more than three years, is an area manager at Amazon\u2019s new delivery station in the St. Charles Industrial Park in Waldorf. It was her suggestion that led to Amazon making a $20,000 gift to LifeStyles to support our mission to offer Help, Hope and Transformation to those in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith has gotten to know LifeStyles through our collaborations with New Life Church in La Plata. She has even volunteered with us along with fellow members of her church. So LifeStyles was the first organization that came to her mind when her Amazon colleagues began discussing how to give back to Charles County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe company was asking what we were going to do for our Neighborgood project,\u201d she said. \u201cI was thinking that if I had the capability to help, I would like to help LifeStyles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She passed along information about our organization to her supervisor, Station Manager Darrell Lewis, who then reached out to learn more. A short time later, Lewis asked to schedule a Zoom video conference with the LifeStyles team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the call, he informed LifeStyles that Amazon would make a $20,000 donation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are so grateful for this gift and excited to have Amazon join the community in Southern Maryland,\u201d LifeStyles Executive Director Sandy Washington said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to have an organization like this come to Charles County and want to make a positive impact on the community right away.\u201d<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-and-volunteer-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n
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