After a year of hard work, the Beatrice Community Food Pantry said thanks to its dozens of volunteers Wednesday night.
The food pantry hosted a dinner at Valentino's in Beatrice for approximately 70 people as part of the organization’s third volunteer appreciation night which featured Food Bank of Lincoln’s executive director Scott Young as the speaker.
Each month, the pantry has 65 people or more who come in to work a three hour shift at the Beatrice Community Food Pantry in the basement of St. John’s Lutheran Church. Stocked with canned goods, personal hygiene items, beverages, produce, meat and more, the food pantry feeds hundreds of hungry people in Beatrice every year.
Without their volunteers, they’d have a lot harder time keeping up with demand, said pantry coordinator Karen Mains.
“They fill all the orders,” Mains said. “We have a sacker and a runner. There's two people in the morning and the afternoon, so we do eight different people a week there. Then we have people who work in the interview room that bring their grocery list in. Then they take their grocery list and we fill it with what we have. Then we have people who do the scheduling, the calendars for every month. Then we have people who unload the trucks when they come in.”
The pantry is always training new people to lend a hand, but most of the volunteers love the work, she said. The food pantry also works with Dollar Tree, Sun Mart, Heartland Foods and the Food Bank of Lincoln to keep tables full.
With the summer months of May, June, July and August approaching, the food pantry’s most expensive months are right around the corner. School is out at that time, which means there’s not school breakfast or lunch to keep kids fed during the week. It’s also the most expensive time of year for the food pantry, Mains said.
For those interested in volunteering or donating to the food pantry, Mains recommended calling first at (402) 223-5306. They’re always looking for volunteers, she said, but they’re full of people who love what they do.
“We're never without people,” Mains said. “We always have somebody that's willing to come in. They'll work their three hours. They like it down there. It's an easy place to work and it's fun and we're helping people.”
