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Date: 10/19/2022
WALES – The Wales Community Food Pantry is seeking donations with a fundraising goal of $30,000 to continue providing food and care to the community. The pantry serves residents in Wales, Brimfield and Holland.
According to Jean Smith, director of the pantry, they provide families with nonperishables, fruits, vegetables, meats, grains, snacks, personal care items, pet food and more. She said that they are committed to serving well-rounded meals and adhering to any food allergies, diets and restrictions.
The pantry also delivers meals to homebound elderly, sick and disabled residents. A pantry volunteer assists with the deliveries in order to check in on those they serve.
“We have so many elderly and I worry about them. I want to make sure that they’re eating what we’re getting to them or see if they have any concerns. We get to talk to them and that’s important because, for some of them, we’re probably the only one they see. You want to make sure that they’re okay,” said Smith.
The pantry runs on grant funding. They are now seeking donations from the community after their funds prematurely ran out.
“There was no way we could’ve anticipated COVID[-19] issues and all of these economic problems, so the amount that we had requested was not enough to cover what we have going on. The grant ran out and we can’t apply for another grant until sometime in the spring. So we need enough money to get us through to that point,” said Smith.
They are accepting donations through their “Give Some, Feed Many” GoFundMe campaign and on their website. Residents are also able to send a check to the pantry located at 85 Main St.
Smith said they are hopeful to raise the funds by the end of October in order to be prepared for the holiday season.
“At this point, I just need to raise the money to get us through. We have the holidays coming and our biggest time of need is through Thanksgiving, Christmas and the winter months. People are panicking at the price of everything right now. I have people calling me upset because they can’t afford the food in stores and they don’t know what to do,” she said.
According to Smith, the pantry accepts non-perishable food donations as well. At this time, she emphasized that monetary donations will be the most impactful.
“Money is always better because it helps us to get what’s needed. An example is, we go through almost 60 boxes of cereal a week. So, for us, if we get the money then we can go out and get the items that we’re low on. If people donate, you have no idea what you’re going to get,” she said. “I really appreciate getting the food donations, but the money allows us to go out and buy the cereal if we need cereal or the pasta if we need pasta.”
Smith said that the pantry is seeing more people apply for their services each day. She anticipates that it will be a hard winter for many.
“It’s not getting any better, the economy, and we’re doing more now than we’ve done in the last three years. And I don’t expect it to get any easier. I think it’s only going to get worse this winter with the prices of oil and electricity,” said Smith.
Any donation to help the pantry reach their goal to make it through the year will be greatly appreciated, according to Smith.
“Every little bit helps. Every bit of money goes right into the food pantry,” she said.
Those interested in learning more about the Wales Community Pantry or donating can visit their website at https://www.walescommunitypantry.com/ or their GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/give-some-feed-many.