A Look Back At 2022!

What a year this has been! We saw a huge increase in a client base throughout this year. We were averaging 100-130 families per month with a minimum of 25 new families per month. In September we served 155 families which was about 260 people!

We joined the Hunger Task Force Federation this year. This gives us the opportunity to connect with other pantries around the state. Some of them are much larger than we are and serve more people. It also gave us the opportunity to qualify for a grant to receive a new commercial freezer and refrigerator. This helps us store quantities of frozen and refrigerated items.

Some issues we have also run into:

1. The Food Banks are running low on food, partly due to COVID, and to the companies that previously gave donations of food to the bank. We are not getting as much meat as we used to get to serve our clients. The main items we can still use are:  cereal, rice, snack items or desserts, hearty soups and juice.
2. Volunteers are always needed. It takes three people in the atrium to make things run smoothly. One to do paperwork and two to make sure the frozen items and boxes get moved to our clients. Three people packing in the pantry makes quick work of getting boxes filled. Two of our volunteers started full time jobs so their time is not always consistent.

A BIG thank you to everyone that does volunteer: Church members are:  Bill Anderson, Myrna Kryger, Laurie Sutton, Ellen Easley, Diane Lehmann, Taylor Moulds, Logan Lehmann, Nancy Reeser, Deb Yale. Other volunteers: Joe, John, Elijah, Maggie, Jeanne, Job’s Daughters International. Another BIG, BIG Thank you to the building and grounds crew: Royce Earnest, Larry Dickerson, Steve Simpson, Dennis Reeser, Bud Eastman for their assistance when we have a delivery!!

This is a much-needed community service in our area. We are still the only pantry open in the evening on Wednesdays and within walking distance for most of our clients. Thank you to the congregation for your support and prayers as we continue to help our neighbors.

Respectfully submitted,

LuAnn Hansen