A Vigo County food pantry is receiving $75,200 from the Terre Haute Meijer store because of generosity of holiday shoppers at the end of 2017.
New Life Fellowship Compassion Ministries Food Pantry will receive $75,200 in gift cards to purchase food to stock pantry shelves and feed the hungry.
“We’re so grateful,” Pastor Jeffrey Harpole said Tuesday. “It really perpetuates our ability to help the needy and struggling families in the area. We are grateful for all the people who donate and continue to donate.”
The Meijer “Simply Give” campaign encourages customers to purchase a $10 Simply Give donation card upon checkout. Once purchased, the donation is converted into a Meijer Food-Only Gift Card and donated directly to a local food pantry selected by the store — in this case, New Life.
Harpole said the food pantry began small and has grown to its own facility on the New Life campus at East Glenn on U.S. 40.
“It started with a couple of cans of soup in a closet,” he said of what has turned into a food ministry for the past 17 years.
Being selected by the store to receive the funds is an honor, he said, because there are many food pantries and ministries in the area who do good work. The gift cards will be used over time to stock the pantry.
It costs New Life more than $30,000 per year to operate the ministry, which includes the cost of trucks and transportation, insurance and the building, the pastor said. But all of those costs are born by the congregation, while 100 percent of the cash and food donations to the food pantry are used to feed the community. Volunteers staff the food pantry.
“We just believe we have an obligation,” Harpole said.
The $75,200 generated at the Terre Haute Meijer Store equates to 752,000 meals, using the Feed America formula of $1 equaling 10 meals.
“It’s inspiring to see friends and neighbors come together to take care of hungry families throughout the communities we serve,” executive chairman Hank Meijer said in a news release.
The 2017 total of Simply Give programs has produced more than $37 million since its inception in 2008.
