August 24, 2022

Hmmmmm....no it's not the aroma of pumpkin spice that welcomed our neighbors on Saturday! Why it's Chef Martha preparing a tasty salsa with fresh vegetables from the garden and Tractor.Food and Farms. Later in the morning she offered a jiffy cornmeal waffle. Our morning was quite busy with 106 families representing 336 individuals and seven new families who continue to be offered an opportunity to taste nutritious items from our pantry and the recipe.

What a wonderful surprise mid morning when a pickup truck filled with fresh corn pulled into our parking lot! The Rotary Gleaners provided a generous amount of corn for our neighbors to enjoy during the upcoming week. Also with the many generous donations of school supplies, our Pantry children were ready for that first day of school.

Thrivent financial services is an organization that has generosity at its core. They invest more than just in portfolios-they invest in our communities. Heather and Michael have applied for a grants from them. We are the recipients of a generous supply of baby diapers for our ever increasing infant population and feminine products for our women and teenagers. These are items that cannot be purchased with food stamps

Just a reminder about the Annual Hunger Walk of Henderson County on September 17. If you would like to participate in the Hunger Walk, information is in the sign-in room at the Pantry. We would also enjoy your company on Thursday nights at 7:00 in the garden. Weeding, harvesting tomatoes, and transitioning to our winter crop...a good time is had by all each week!

Donations this week were boxes of Sunny Crunch lettuce grown at Bright Farms. MilkCo donated several boxes of milk. Flavor-First donated corn and tomatoes. Bread, rolls, English muffins, and buns were donated by a patron. Tractor.Food and Farms delivered roma tomatoes, micro greens, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, purple potatoes, beets, squash, and leeks. The Lord's Acre, our garden, provided squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Shopping locally the Pantry purchased milk, eggs, and onions.

On behalf of the Executive Committee, thank you to our volunteers and area churches, civic groups, local merchants, and families for all you do to feed our community helping to reduce food insecurity.