Salvation Army requests help to restock food pantry
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on September 15, 2016 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Janice Sauls looks over a list of accepted canned goods in the nearly empty pantry of the Salvation Army on Wednesday.
The Salvation Army's food pantry, which provides food to the hungry of Wayne County, is bare.
"It has been empty for about a month now," said Lt. Sherrie Stokes with the Salvation Army. "We have people coming in every day requesting nonperishable items."
But they are leaving with empty hands and stomachs.
"If you go out there, the pantry is just bare, Mrs. Stokes said. "What we need the community to do is help, help, help."
The Salvation Army is asking for the community's help to restock the food pantry with nonexpired items such as canned meats, Vienna sausages, spaghetti sauce, spaghetti noodles, peanut butter, jelly, canned vegetables, canned soups, hamburger helper, canned fruits and things like this.
"And considering that kids are going back to school, they need to be able to come home and eat as well because a lot of our parents are having to work," Mrs. Stokes said.
"It's easy to go out and buy a box of snack cakes that is less than $2 per box, but we want it to be something healthy and nutritious. Something like peanut butter crackers, fruit cups, something that will keep them full at least until they eat supper."
Mrs. Stokes said the homeless community needs canned items with pop tops.
Sometimes, the Salvation Army needs to use items from its food pantry for the men in its homeless shelter.
This time of year is especially hard on the Salvation Army because its fiscal year runs from October to September and funds are just about nonexistent at this point.
It usually gives out at least five boxes of food a day that contain about 20 cans of food, but that can't happen when the pantry is empty.
The organization has been able to give out bags of fresh food items each day through donations from a local grocery store.
"We feed anywhere from 20 to 35 people per day with that," Mrs. Stokes said. "It's all perishables like fresh meats, fresh vegetables, fruits, deli items and bread."
A few local companies have been helping out the past month, but more is needed.
"We need the community to just rally together and help," Mrs. Stokes said. "Churches, schools and other groups could do food drives, which help us so much. We can set up a barrel and go pick it back up when it's full.
"We're coming up on Christmas, and we try to make sure we give every family with their angel tree gifts a food box. If we don't have the food, we can't do it.
"If people would donate food now, and we would have an overabundance, it will be given out in the Christmas boxes."
Anyone wanting to donate items to help restock the food pantry can drop items off at the Salvation Army at 610 N. William St. Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call 919-735-4811.