The Loaves and Fishes mobile food pantry will be moving to the city of Grand Island’s Utilities Building at 1306 W. Third St. on Saturday for its monthly distribution of food that will take place from the building’s new garage.
The food distribution will begin at 9:30 a.m. and continue through 12:30 p.m.
People who are receiving food should park their vehicles in the parking lot on the west side of the building, then walk to the new garage, which was added to the northwest corner of the building. People can get to the parking lot by driving in off of Jefferson Street.
“The food comes from the Food Bank for the Heartland in Omaha,” said Deb Brummund, a member of Trinity United Methodist Church who is the coordinator of the food distribution. While Trinity United Methodist Church is in charge of organizing the monthly food distribution, people from other Grand Island churches, from other organizations and individuals help hand out the food to families in need.
Brummund noted that members of First Presbyterian Church are always among the people who volunteer each month to help give the food to families in need.
Trinity United Methodist has been responsible for the food distribution since April. Brummund said a couple of other local churches had been in charge of the distribution before that.
Since April, all the food distributions have been done from Trinity United Methodist Church at the intersection of Fifth and Elm streets, but the mobile food pantry is being moved to get it inside during the winter.
Brummund said the new distribution site is a “wonderful, wonderful big garage that they use for their city vehicles. They’re going to move the vehicles out to allow us to bring in tables and bring that food in because it’s a full semi (truck) of food that is brought in.”
She said about 30,000 pounds of food is handed out each month, which a press release from the Food Bank for the Heartland said is enough to provide 20,800 to 25,000 meals.
The distribution includes a variety of canned food, cereals, pancake mixes and other “shelf-stable items,” as well a variety of fresh produce and bakery items.
Although the Utilities Building has a large garage, it still does not have enough room for recipients to wait inside to get their food. “They (recipients) will get a number when they come and that number will tell them approximately what time their number will be called and what time they will be coming into the building to get their food,” Brummund said.
She noted that the food distribution takes several hours to complete because “we serve 400 families a month.” That’s why volunteers need a warm place to work during the food distribution. The overnight low early Saturday morning is expected to be 20 degrees.
“It is truly an amazing process and our volunteers are so positive at the end of each time, even though they’re tired,” Brummund said. “It’s really a wonderful process because so many families are allowed to get food to help them live more comfortably.”
After this Saturday’s Loaves and Fishes food distribution, the remaining mobile pantry food distributions for 2017 will take place on Nov. 11 and Dec. 9.
A press release from the Food Bank for the Heartland said the organization is still working with the city of Grand Island to find a permanent location for the mobile food pantry.
