The Willcox Community Food Pantry is asking the community to help fight the war on hunger during its latest food drive, which kicks off today.
Co-director Nell Worden said the goal of this year’s food drive is to collect 30,000 pounds of food, which must be met “in order to meet the needs of this community.
From left, Willcox Community Food Pantry co-directors Nell Worden and Michelle Shannon, are pictured here with volunteer Jeannie Norris, preparing the backpacks filled with a weekend’s food for hungry children.
Carol Broeder Photo/Arizona Range News“The war on hunger is raging right here in our own backyards,” she told the Range News. “We win one battle only to prepare for the next one, and it seems that the next one is bigger than the last one.”
As one of its programs, the food pantry currently provides backpacks of food for at-risk school children to take home on weekends.
These packs are filled with kid-friendly snacks, an entire family meal, breakfast foods, lunch meals and two loaves of bread.
The food pantry is “dedicated to funding our 2,400 backpacks filled with food for the weekend to feed our school children that otherwise would have little to nothing to eat,” Worden said. “Our goal is for no children to go hungry in Willcox.”
From left, Ruth Grissom, with Edward Jones; and Nell Worden, with the Willcox Community Food Pantry, are pictured here with Willcox Middle School Teacher Ally Ellis and Student Council Officers Kamrielle Wyatt, Jazlyn Felix, Alyssa Rogers, Kylie Shores, Miranda White, and Spencer Allred. The students were delivering food collected during the annual Edward Jones Bag-a-Thon.
Carol Broeder Photo/Arizona Range NewsThe pantry’s annual requirements for food have been more than 100,000 pounds, she said.
“We are pleading for your help because we would like to see that no adult goes hungry, either,” Worden said.
For more information contact the Willcox Community Food Pantry, at 200 Downen St., Willcox, or by phone at 520-384-0357.
