The members of Girl Scout Troop 279 have just finished a successful year of running a food pantry out of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Ellettsville. Now, they’ve taken on another daunting project: gathering enough food to give 700 families a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.
Troop leader Cindy Chavez said she started hearing earlier this month from clients who asked if the pantry would be distributing food boxes for the upcoming holiday. They told her a local organization that in the past had distributed holiday food boxes wouldn’t be doing so this year.
So, she put out the message on the Pantry 279 Facebook page: If the community would help supply the necessary items, the pantry would see to it that the food got to families who needed it.
It was a large order to fill: stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, corn, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, butternut squash, salt and pepper shakers, cranberry sauce, pie crusts, pumpkin pie filling, cornbread mix and some kind of meat — turkey, ham or chicken — to make a complete holiday meal for 700 families.
Two weeks later, there are are still some items left on the grocery list, but enough donations have been received for Pantry 279 to schedule a special Thanksgiving food distribution this Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the pantry at 501 E. Temperance Street in Ellettsville.
Chavez said families who wish to receive a box of food need to sign up by 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Families can register by calling or texting 812-606-1524 or by contacting the pantry via its Facebook page. On Saturday, participating families will be given a box and allowed to take items they need to make a Thanksgiving meal.
Chavez said the response from the community has been great. Members of the Edgewood High School band have collected food and volunteered to help with the distribution. Churches, businesses, other Girl Scout troops, the Ellettsville Boys and Girls Club, as well as individuals have made pledges of food and/or money.
According to its Facebook page, the pantry still needs donations of canned yams, boxes of mashed potatoes, pie crusts, pumpkin pie filling, salt and pepper shakers and money or gift cards to use for the purchase of hams or turkeys.
“Here in this small corner of Indiana, we’re coming together,” Chavez said. “We’re helping 700 families.”
