Someone stepping into the George P. Thames Senior Center in Robertsdale a couple of Saturdays ago would have found organized chaos.

There was a squad of people loading up boxes, and another crew of volunteers, mostly young men and teenaged boys, was toting those boxes out to a parade of cars that at one point were backed up more than 10 deep on Pennsylvania Street.

Everybody was coming to get their “Angel Food” boxes. For $30, a family can get a box loaded with meats, vegetables and other goodies that Michele Prockup, director of Catholic Social Services in Baldwin County says “will feed four people for a week.”

There’s a package that provides 10 heat-and-serve “senior meals” for $28, and a holiday box with all the trimmings for Christmas dinner for $35. There are also “special” boxes, like boxes of meat and boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables that can be purchased for $20 to $26 if you buy one of the larger boxes. What’s in the box varies each month, so it’s best to go to angelfoodministries.com to see what’s on the menu each month.

Orders can be placed by contacting Catholic Social Services at 947-2293. For the holiday season, orders must be placed by Dec. 5 and will be picked up Dec. 20. Orders must be prepaid with cash or food stamps.

Even better in these strained times is that you don’t have to be on any sort of assistance to take advantage of the program, Prockup says.

“This is a food ministry,” Prockup said as some of the 46 volunteers working that day streamed around her. “You don’t have to be eligible for a program.”

“If you went to a grocery store, you’d pay around $60 for the same things,” said Prockup, asking a volunteer who did just that for confirmation.

The program got its start in 1994 when Joe and Linda Wingo, pastors of a church in Georgia started buying and distributing food to families hard-hot by a plant closing. The program s now, according to the Angel Food Web site, in 35 states.

And while the program is coordinated by Catholic Social Services, patrons don’t have to be Catholic to enjoy the savings. Or to volunteer.

“This isn’t a Catholic program,” said Prockup. “You don’t have to be anything. People just want to help. This is a volunteer ministry.”

Catholic Social Services started the program about three months ago, Prockup says. While there have been a few “getting started” bumps, the program is working smoothly now. The program is currently distributing about 266 boxes every month. The program gets a “free” box of food to be distributed however it wishes based on the number of “paid” boxes in the program.

When asked what the best part of the program was, Phyllis Beam, who coordinates the program for CSS, said, “The outpouring of feeling is on both sides.”

“There is an increasing number of people coming to our agency for help,’ said Beam. “This almost seemed to be too good to be true.”

“It stretches the food dollar,” she said. “We have single parents, and the elderly coming, They see the value,” she continued, adding that the volunteers started arriving at the Senior Center around 6:30 a.m. on distribution day.

Joanne Hayes of Rosinton keeps track of the orders. Every time another car pulled up, she had to verify the order against a master list.

“In September, none of us had seen this program at all,” said Hayes. “It’s a wonderful program.”

Tom Schubert of Summerdale is one of the volunteers He said he’d been volunteering since the program began. Before that, he volunteered at another location.

“there are so many people needing help,” said Schubert. “an increasing number of people are saving money with this program.”