Who Is Shauna Devenport?

My VIP for this week is Shauna Devenport, otherwise known as the Bread Lady. I chose her because she is a good example of being in tune with the Spirit as well as service. She has been putting food on her porch for more than thirty years, and the homeless and hungry have been picking it up. She did not begin with the idea for such a project. 

A neighbor recruited Devenport to help her with a food drive sometime in October, called Share the Harvest. The food drive was an effort to encourage neighbors to distribute surplus food from their homes and gardens to help the poor and needy. The effort also included local grocery stores.

Devenport was sent to a Smith’s food store in Bountiful, Utah, to pick up the excess bakery goods. While she was there, a worker in the store made the following comment: “I wish we could have somebody come in and do this every day because we just throw this out.”

As she drove back to the site, Devenport had another conversation. This time, it was a conversation with God. She heard a voice saying, “You need to do this.” She had many reasons why she could not do it – including a full-time job, but she was convinced by the time she got back. “Fine, I’ll do it, but you better find me help!” Lee Benson at the Deseret News explained how it came about.

The porch food campaign has evolved through the years. With the advent of the Utah Food Bank, grocery stores now give almost all of their excess there. Now, Shauna collects surplus from the Bountiful food pantry daily and makes sure it gets to the places where those who are not patrons of the Utah Food Bank look for sustenance. She makes her rounds of Hildegarde’s pantry at the Episcopal church, the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, Catholic Community Services, the Salt Lake City Mission on Redwood Road, and, ultimately, the front porch of 600 North.

She’s made it her life’s work to help feed – and clothe – those who might otherwise slip through the cracks.

Devenport has been the topic of numerous news articles, but she claims that she does not do it for attention. I would think that being directed by a voice from heaven would be a good reason for doing what she does. However, she gave the following explanation.

“You know there was a book came out a while back called ‘The Secret.’ I think they charged like $16.99 for the little book. I said all they ever had to do was come ask me, because the secret to life is giving service and the most selfish person in the world should think about giving service because you get way more in return than what you give. It’s like tenfold. And when you get frustrated and you’ve had enough of the negativity and you’ve had enough of the rudeness and seeing people who are frustrated with life and they don’t know how to switch it around to be happy, or to find happiness in something small, or joy, or hope, and you think, ‘if I’m going to get all the same people in one day, I’ll walk away’ — then you get somebody who shows up that is so grateful and that’s when you say, ‘this is why I do it,’ ‘this is why I do it.’”

As a postscript, she adds, “People forget how simple life should be. We make it so complicated, especially in this country. We have such an entitled attitude and it’s like ‘I want more, I need more’ … and we throw away too much food; it’s now approaching 50%.”

Devenport has had helpers along the way with some of them being her husband, children, and grandchildren. She has learned the truth of a teaching from King Benjamin to his people in ancient America. The following message is found in the Book of Mormon: “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow being ye are only in the service of your God.” Joy is found in service to our fellowmen and God.