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| By Dan Cooper Staff Intern SPRINGFIELD - Open Pantry Community Services, Inc. will host their annual Pantry Walk for 2007 on May 6 at Riverfront Park. Registration is at 12:30 p.m. and the walk begins at 1. "We have been doing the Pantry Walk for a long time," Executive Director of the Open Pantry Kevin Noonan told Reminder Publications. "It started back around 1995 or 1996 as the Walk for the Hungry and Homeless. "When that group disbanded, we [Open Pantry] took over the walk and developed it into the Pantry Walk," Noonan added. "So we've been doing the walk for about 11 years." Noonan said the goal of the Pantry Walk is to raise as much money as possible to help support the Open Pantry's programs. "The funds enable us to provide food and shelter for the year to the homeless and poor," Noonan said. "Last year we raised about $10,000 at the Pantry Walk, and we're hoping to raise more this year. "I encourage people to please come support the Open Pantry by walking with us," Noonan said. Noonan said more money is needed this year because the city recently told the Open Pantry it can no longer use the former York Street jail as the Warming Place, a winter shelter for single homeless people that can house up to 75 men and women a night. "So we need to find a new location for the Warming Place," Noonan said. Noonan explained that there is no minimum amount of money needed to participate in the walk. "People can bring whatever they have raised at that point and just have a chance to enjoy a walk along the Riverfront. It's a fun day all around," he added. Noonan said there are two different courses available for participants. "We have a 3.5-mile course and a 1.5-mile course available," he explained. "We have a lot of older residents participate and the three-mile course may be too much for them, so we give them the option of the shorter course." Noonan said the walk coincides with the National Walk for Hunger Day. Noonan said some of the other fund-raisers the Open Pantry does during the year include a wine tasting, a postal food drive where letter carriers collect non-perishable food items along their routes, and the Souper Bowl of Caring, where youth groups stand outside their place of worship and ask for donations to their local food pantries or soup kitchens. The Open Pantry was established in 1975 and incorporated in 1977 as a private, non-profit organization. It has provided prepared meals to Springfield's homeless and poor since 1980 and has shelters for single women, teenagers, and others among the homeless population. The Open Pantry also hosts a Holiday Meals program every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter that serves approximately 2,500 meals on the three days. Anyone who would like to sign up for the Pantry Walk can go to the Open Pantry's website, www.openpantry.org, and click on the Events page for a pledge sheet or contact Kim Kennedy at 746-6241 for more information or to sign up. |