The Barnes County Food Pantry is looking for donations for emergency food boxes and for the annual Christmas food box distribution. The demand for food boxes has been huge this year and donations have not kept up with the needs. Cash donations are needed to purchase food for the Christmas boxes. Food is ordered so that each of the same size families receives the same items. The cost of the Christmas boxes ranges from $8,000 to $12,000 depending on the number of families receiving them. Food donations are used for the emergency boxes as they do not have to be uniform. During the January through September time period 1,215 households received food from the Pantry.
Each basket provides enough food to feed the recipients for 10 days and includes canned fruits and vegetables, pancake mix and syrup, cereal, soup, crackers, frozen and canned meat, instant potatoes, bread and rolls and a voucher to purchase milk, eggs and fresh fruit or vegetables at the local grocery stores. The Food Pantry is 100% reliant on donations. We do not receive any other funds for the program. The cost to purchase items for the Pantry is about $40,000 each year. No staff time or rent is charged to the pantry. Volunteers come in daily to pack the boxes.
Donations to the Food Pantry should be made to: Barnes County Seniors - Food Pantry, PO Box 298, Valley City, ND 58072. All donations are tax deductible. If you have any questions you can contact Pat or JoAnn at 845-4300.
