Hancock County Food Pantry

Eligibility Requirements: Based on financial need and age

Documents Required: Must provide social security card for
every member of the family. Also, need picture Identification
card for head of household

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NEED TO CALL AND CONFIRM NEW NAME/ADDRESS/MANAGEMENT:

FROM: The Hancock County Journal-Pilot

Food pantry now Shepherd's Pantry

By Joy Swearingen, Managing Editor
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:15 PM CDT

Families needing an emergency supply of food can still get help - just at a new location.

The Hancock County Food Pantry, which has been housed for many years, at the Hancock County Health Department, moved this weekend to the fellowship hall of the Trinity Lutheran Church.

With a new name, the Shepherd's Pantry, and under the supervision of a new group, the Carthage Ministerial Alliance, the service to families will remain the same. A two to three day emergency supply of food is available to anyone in the county who is in need.

Beth Rupe, pastor of the Carthage Disciples of Christ (Christian) Church, is the pastoral advisor of the project. Marcia McGaughey, a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, is coordinator.

“This is all volunteer work,” McGaughey said Saturday, as members from many different churches moved food from the health department into a truck, removed the shelving, and reassembled the stocks of food in a Sunday school room at Trinity Lutheran Church.

“This is a very needed service in our county. The Ministerial Alliance feels it is a good mission project for the churches to help continue,” McGaughey said.

The Shepherd's Pantry will be open on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. and Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m., beginning on Tuesday, May 1.

McGaughey plans a volunteer training session Thursday, April 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Parish Hall.

She will schedule volunteers, do state paper work, order food and work with organizations who want to donate food or money to the pantry.

The project is guided by a board with one member from each church: John Schwartz from Trinity Lutheran, Louise Smith of Christian Church, Lucille Kimmell from the Baptist Church, Donna Walker from the Methodist Church, Barb Sassman from the Presbyterian Church, Sherry Huston from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, and Dave Aanenson, from Ferris Christian Church.

The pantry has benefited from hunters' donations of deer meet, and stored at Weber Meats at no cost to the pantry. It continues to be registered with the River Bend Food Pantry.

“We can order specific items that we need, and they share what they have in abundance,” McGaughey said.

“Even though this is sponsored by the Carthage Ministerial Alliance and is located in Carthage, this remains a county wide service,” McGaughey stressed. She said members of the Trinity Lutheran Church had voted to support the project by housing it in their building.

Several new programs at the Hancock County Health Department caused their need to seek a new location for the food pantry service.

“We have added some programs, particularly the dental clinics, that took up three rooms,” said Teresa Beeler, administrator of the health department.

“In the past we had looked at finding a new site for the food pantry. The board said we would wait until we really needed the space. Well, now we do. When we have clinics running at the same time, we are packed. Had we not found someone so willing, we would have kept it going somehow,” she said.

The food took a 12 by 15 room, overflowed into one-third of their meeting room, part of the audio-visual closet, and filled most of the staff freezer.

With the space, they hope to expand or open the waiting room, add an exam room and create space for educational programs.

“It may be a multi-purpose kind of space that will fit all three purposes as needed.” she said.

Beeler said that about 60 families a month use the food pantry.

“It is heavily used by families from all over the county, different ones each time. We had meetings to go over how we've run it to keep it very similar. We are very appreciative to the Ministerial Alliance for sponsoring this for the whole county.”