New York Times
April 30, 2009

Congressional Spouses Join First Lady at Food Bank
By Rachel L. Swarns

One by one, the volunteers filled their plastic bags to the brim.

First Lady Michelle Obama handed out packages of whole grain rotini to the eager volunteers while Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, passed out organic fruit snacks.

They were joined by a veritable service brigade of Congressional spouses, more than 150 in all, who gathered on Wednesday to fill grocery bags with canned corn, canned chicken, granola cereal, spaghetti sauce and other items to help feed hundreds of hungry children in the Washington area.

The human assembly line of service was organized by Mrs. Obama, who decided to spend her 100th day as first lady volunteering at the Capital Area Food Bank and got a little help from the wives and husbands of the nation’s lawmakers.

The first lady said she hoped the bipartisan effort – which is expected to help feed 1,000 school children — would inspire Americans to volunteer and support the needy during these difficult economic times.

“It’s important for America to see you all here doing this,’’ said Mrs. Obama, who was joined by Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

“Not as Republicans or Democrats or independents – there’s no ideology,’’ she said. “It’s just all of us people who care about our country and want to make service a core part of the work we do.’’

The volunteers — most of them wives, but some of them husbands – said they had never gotten together on such a massive scale. Shuttle buses carried them to the food bank, which sits in a predominantly black neighborhood of Washington that rarely receives celebrity visitors.

Those who promised to attend included the spouses of Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York; and the wives of Representatives Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia; and F. James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, among others.

They worked side by side – Republicans and Democrats, some in high heels and power suits, others in blue jeans and sneakers. (Mrs. Obama wore sneakers and gray Capris pants. Mr. Pelosi shed his suit jacket as he settled into the work.)

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to help and be involved in the community,’’ said Dianne Isakson, wife of Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia.

Ms. Isakson was putting recipe booklets into the bags alongside London Thompson, the wife of Representative Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House committee on homeland security.

“This is a new experience,’’ Mrs. Thompson said. “We get to meet and to greet and make new friends.”

And the bags of food – organizers hoped there would be 2,000 bags in all – will go to children who often go hungry over the weekends when they are not in school to receive free meals.

“It really is a beautiful way of getting involved and helping people who really need help right now,’’ said Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America, a national association of food banks, which includes Capital Area Food Bank.