Bob and Cathy Robison, of Niles, coordinate the monthly food truck at Hope Community Church, 2390 Lake St., in Niles. It takes place at 3 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month for needy citizens.

(Cathy provided answers for the couple)

What do you do for the food truck?

We are the coordinators for the food truck from our church. It is a mission for us and is through Feeding America. We have a team of church members who come and help us distribute the food. People come and they line up. We check them in and they sign in to receive food. Then they get in line. We actually have grocery carts for them. We set up tables of food around the truck and the people go around and shop just like they would in the grocery store.

Who can use this service?

It is pretty much for people in need of food. People with low income, senior citizens, veterans — there is just such a need out there that you can’t imagine. Right now we aren’t serving as many as we did in the spring and summer and fall, but we normally can serve about 100 families. It is 50 pounds of food (per family). It is all perishable. In other words fruits, vegetables, juices, yogurt, baked goods. It is good things, not bad things.

How can people take advantage of the food truck?

We start serving at 3 p.m. and keep going until it is all gone. They have to come register at a table. They must bring a driver’s license or some type of a picture ID. That is all they need.

When and how did you get involved?

The church actually had a food pantry at one time, but it stopped. Bob and I felt in our hearts that God was saying, ‘Feed my people,’ because there was such an issue with the economy like it was and people with no jobs. People were starving and children were starving. So we felt that God laid it on our hearts to help. We started it two years ago this coming August. We knew we had to do something. Hope Community Church is very adamant about reaching out to the community to those in need whether it be spiritually, or with something like food. You can be fed with the spirit too.

Why is it important to volunteer?

We feel like we want to be a service to the Lord and that is one way to do that. We know the Lord wants his people to be fed and he does it through people like us. I can’t take the credit for it. I am doing the service, but it is for him and the people we serve.

What do you enjoy most about it?

We want to bless people with food and we are receiving more of a blessing because we are serving it to them and they are so appreciative. There are people that come up to us who say we don’t know what we would’ve done without having this food every month.