The AGAPE mobile food pantry is officially up and running as the organization hosted its first distribution day Wednesday, May 6, at Lions Park in Jonesburg.
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The AGAPE mobile food pantry is officially up and running as the organization hosted its first distribution day Wednesday, May 6, at Lions Park in Jonesburg.
The mobile food pantry is the organization’s newest program to get food to families in need.
According to AGAPE Executive Director Michelle Bernth, the organization received a grant that allowed them to purchase a refrigerated van to store food for the purpose of distributing it to area communities.
The reason for instituting the mobile food pantry is that AGAPE is aware there are those in the community that have difficulty accessing the organization’s food pantry on Legion Trail Drive in Warrenton.
“We wanted to be able to provide a solution to that known issue,” Bernth said in a previous interview. “The mobile food pantry will help people access the food they need. At AGAPE we are focused on meeting community needs. Staying abreast of what emerging needs are. While we are large, we are nimble enough to stay incredibly flexible as we roll things out. This program was born out of an outreach from the community about this need.
"We've been working on this program for a long time and it is amazing to see it come to fruition," Bernth said. "We are proud to be able to expand our services and help even more people in our community."
According to Bernth, the food pantry sees an average of 1,800 people per month. As more people take advantage of the mobile food pantry, the numbers could cause those numbers to swell to well over 2,000 people per month, she said.
Bernth said that food resources from the federal government are being cut which has put a strain on AGAPE’s ability to meet the needs of the families it serves. In the past few months, the number of clients served by AGAPE has increased 33%, while the amount of food coming in has reduced by 66%, she said.
"Offering this new program will put a greater strain on our food supply, which worries me a lot," Bernth said. "We hope that the community answers our call to increase donations and help us be able to continue offering these programs that people need."
The distribution schedule for the mobile food pantry includes: Lions Park the first Wednesday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon; Bellflower, by the old elementary school, third Wednesday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon.
