Food pantry features caring atmosphere | News | register-herald.com - Beckley Register-Herald

Food pantry features caring atmosphere | News | register-herald.com - Beckley Register-Herald

MANNINGTON — For more than 30 years, Mannington Food Pantry has been providing food and support, and has grown along the way.

Ed and Sally Allen started the pantry in their home in 1986, providing food to about 20 families in Mannington, according to director Colleen Morris. As the pantry grew, it went to the Methodist church in town, and was moved to its current location when the building was bought by Mannington Ministerial Association.

The pantry now helps about 325 families a month, said Morris, who has been the director since 2005. She explained that though the number of families they help has decreased a bit, the size of the families has grown, and they often help families of nine or 10 people.

Those receiving food must meet income guidelines.

Morris said a lot of the people helped are on a fixed income; some are disabled and unable to work, and many are young mothers.

Tiffany Towner,

Times West Virginian

The pantry is open from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday, providing families with food once a month.

“They’re supposed to get five to seven days’ worth of nonperishable food items,” Morris said, adding that it’s sometimes more than that. “We supplement that with bread and other items that are donated by the community.”

Funding from the United Way of Marion County is used to purchase food from the Mountaineer Food Bank. Other food donations come from clubs, civic groups, community members and businesses. Shop ‘n Save donates bread and sweets weekly, Morris said.

The pantry relies on volunteers, as there is no paid staff. Morris explained that Wonderland Day Care, in the same building as the pantry, pays rent, which is used to pay the building’s utilities.

“All the money that’s donated goes directly to the purchase of food,” she said.

Most of the volunteers come from different churches in the area, and help not only at the pantry, but also at the CROSS Soup Kitchen, an outreach program just a short drive away from the pantry. It was started in 2013 after the building was leased from the nearby machine shop for $1 a year.

Walking into the CROSS (Community Reaching Out Serving Soup) soup kitchen, you may feel more like you’ve walked into a restaurant. Wooden dining room sets fill the building, with handmade curtains in the windows and decorations adorning the walls. Volunteers garbed in maroon aprons bring food out to those gathered, which is typically between 80 to 100 people each week, Morris said. The hours are 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays.

On a recent Wednesday, the volunteers from the local Methodist church were serving up hot dogs, baked beans, pasta salad, dessert, tea and coffee, calling back orders to the kitchen, where volunteers quickly filled plates.

“We wanted it to be like a restaurant,” Morris said, serving home-cooked meals and making diners feel like they were out to eat.

Walking to the back of the soup kitchen, Morris showed off a room filled with everything anyone would need to care for a baby. This outreach program is known as the Children of the CROSS.

Low-income mothers come in for free baby items, she explained. The first time they visit, they can get items such as baby beds, car seats and strollers. Then other items such as diapers, wipes, ointment and shampoo are given out at intervals. About 15 to 18 mothers are helped by the outreach each week.

An atmosphere of happiness and caring radiated from the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church volunteers at the pantry as they gave out nonperishables, and across town at the soup kitchen, a pleasant murmur of conversation filled the room as a child gleefully ran, dodging tables with a smile and icing from a freshly eaten cupcake on his face.

If you are interested in donating to Mannington Food Pantry, monetary donations can be sent to P.O. Box 245 in Mannington. If you hold a food drive for items, the pantry’s drivers can pick items up.

— Tiffany Towner, Times West Virginian