Austin Pantry Offers Food & Hope

Johnson said both the pantry and mobile truck started slow, with 10 to 12 people coming for help each week. Now with dozens of people coming, many people use it as their main “grocery store.””The need for food in this community is so great,” Johnson said. “I think without this program it would be devastating to so many people. We are not servicing the same people all the time; we have homeless people who look forward to it and need this food, we have families who need it, we have kids who need the food.” It costs about $6,000 a year to keep the food pantry open, and Johnson said all the money comes through donations. The church, she adds, spends around $400 a month, the majority of that on buying food from the Greater Chicago. The rest of the food comes from donations and the United States Department of Agriculture. Epting said he’s pleased with the success of the food pantry and the “outpouring of support from the community.””We deliver food to seniors, we do emergency food services; we really try to be out in the community and find ways to help the residents in our neighborhood.”

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Article submission: Bobby Ward

Article First Appeared in The Black Truth News Volume 1 Issue 10 Sept 2010

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