About 60 Jefferson City residents were shown first-hand Monday afternoon how a nonprofit organization is helping those around them.
The Pantry, which provides people with about three days' worth of meals, but also teaches recipients how to prepare inexpensive healthy meals and how to stretch dollars, held a grand opening and ribbon cutting Monday at its new location at 3702 W. Truman Blvd., Suite 122.
The Pantry is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m., the fourth Saturday of each month, Director Kolbi Ward told ambassadors from the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce, well-wishers and volunteers gathered for the event.
No personal information is required to receive food from The Pantry, only a first name and the number of people in the household. The organization provides ingredients for specific breakfast and dinner meals (included on its menu at www.thepantryjc.org). Recipients choose which meals they'd like and receive enough of the ingredients for about three days.
"It's going beautifully. We've had a great deal of positive response to the change in location and change in time," Ward said. "We had our largest distribution day ever last month."
The Pantry served 109 families in July, its third month at the new location, Volunteer Coordinator Sherrie Downs said. The nonprofit had previously been housed at Community Christian Church, 409 Ellis Blvd. Along with the change in location, it moved its distribution day to Saturday, when people can catch rides with neighbors and when they don't have to miss work.
"We've worked really hard to get moved," Downs said. "The carpenter's union came in and knocked down some walls for us."
The new location is just the right size for the work it does. One room serves as a welcome area. Anther serves as a prep area. Tablecloths concealed and transformed freezers into a buffet line for grand opening attendees Monday.
Downs, who is also a member of the United Way's Unmet Needs Committee, said volunteers come in twice a month and prepare packets for the foods the nonprofit distributes. They mix spices for each of the entrees The Pantry gives away and divide the mix into packets for easy food preparation.
Ward explained to attendees at the event that The Pantry gives it's meals to recipients in a "Blue Apron" style, in that the clients choose which meals they want and the organization gives them the ingredients (including pre-measured spices) and complete instructions for food preparation.
Monetary donations to The Pantry are used primarily for purchases of chicken (about 900 pounds a month) and frozen vegetables (about 300 pounds a month), Ward said.
Ward, who is passionate about helping people eat cheap healthy meals, said she's always willing to share her knowledge.
The Gibbs Center for Independence asked her to come in and demonstrate techniques for clients. She is sometimes asked to work with clients at Habitat for Humanity on how to meal plan.
John Downs, another volunteer at the nonprofit, said he usually spends his time volunteering in the back room, filling clients' orders. Last month, as a record number of orders filled, The Pantry notified followers on their website, by email and on Facebook that it was running out of a specific pasta. One donor went to HyVee and emptied the shelves and brought it over, he said.
"The hope is that the word gets out," he said, "so more people know to come in and we get more volunteers and more donors."
