The community pantry is kicking off its fall food drive with grocery bags being delivered throughout Beatrice over the next week to stock up on food before Thanksgiving.
The drive hopes to see Beatrice residents filling up the bags with some of the items listed in the flyer attached to them, and members of the pantry will come by to pick them up on Saturday, Nov. 12.
“The food drive has been going on for years, but it keeps getting bigger and bigger,” said Karen Mains, who coordinates the pantry. “Over the past 10-15 years it has really grown. Monetary donations are also very welcome.”
The grocery bags will be dropped off at houses through Wednesday, depending on the area of the city, and will be collected by 10 a.m. next Saturday. Once the grocery bags are collected, they will be delivered to the community pantry at St. John Lutheran Church where the food will be cataloged and used to feed members of the community who cannot afford groceries.
“We usually serve over 5,000 people in need over the course of the year,” Mains said. “At the beginning of the month churches throughout the town will ask us what we are short of and at the end of the month they bring it in.”
The St. John Lutheran Church pantry serves as the pantry for the entire community and Mains estimated that around 25 churches help to send in volunteers and keep the supplies stocked.
“We have a lot of people and families in need that have to go somewhere for help so this provides a necessary service for them,” Mains said. “We have over 65 volunteers per month helping out with people from every church in town.”
Martin and Marlene Seckel were bagging some of the items from the pantry for families that requested them on Thursday, and have been helping the church pantry for decades. They are members of the St. Paul Church and both have sat on the pantry board for 25 years, which is a 22 member board with individuals from just about every church in town.
“It’s a needy thing so we all have to do our part,” Marlene Seckel said. “We never deny anyone food and a few try to repay the pantry when they can.”
“It’s very enjoyable,” Martin Seckel added. “You meet different people and people in town are very thankful.”
So far in 2016, the pantry has delivered food for 1,222 households for more than 3,500 people and 123 new clients were added this year. Most of the individuals were ages 18-64.
Some of the items asked for from Beatrice residents include basics like noodles, canned meats and shampoo and condition, nice extras like mustard and cake mix, and shortage items like cereal, fruits, and toilet paper.
