Mountrail Community Food Pantry February News
The Mountrail Community Food Pantry provided 11,606 pounds of food to 87 Mountrail County families in February for a total of 293 people, of which 120 were children and 38 were seniors. Cashwise donated 3,831 pounds of food that Greg and Bill loaded up, hauled, unloaded and weighed, which was then stocked in our pantry. Thank you, Cashwise. And thank you Greg and Bill.
We also received 28 pounds of garden produce. Yes, for real! Even in the cold of winter, squash that has been stored perfectly was brought in for our clients to enjoy. Thank you, certain gardener, who shall remain nameless. She likes attention about as much as I adore lutefisk. Many smiley faces here. And one YUK face!
We have had a great month, once again! We were able to purchase some hamburger from a local rancher, enough to keep us going until he can get some more, so that was a big blessing. We strive to provide good protein, and hamburger is one item that everyone seems to appreciate.
And even though this officially happened March 2nd, I think I will put it in the February news. It is fresh in my mind now and was so very thoughtful. Girl Scout Troop 10266 found two easy recipes for taco soup and for chili, purchased all of the items for these recipes, printed out the recipes, and assembled many bags for our clients. A family could take a bag home, which contained all of the ingredients for the recipe, as well as the recipe itself, and then cook up a meal together as a family. What a lovely idea! Those bags were all gone by the end of the day, and they were very well received. Thank you, Girl Scout Troop 10266! You took care of a lot of families! You have much to be proud of. FYI, the recipes and photos of these bags, as well as a photo of the very kind delivery people, are on our Facebook page.
As promised, I will provide our address for people that would like to donate in some way. Our physical address is the Memorial Building, 18 2nd Ave SE, Stanley. The door in the southeast corner of the building is ours, if a person would like to drop off food donations, and our mailing address remains the same; 6989 84th Ave NW, Stanley, ND 58784. If you’d like to save postage, you can slide an envelope right under our door at the pantry, and we will find it when we arrive.
Our hours of operation are 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. on Mondays (except legal holidays). If you, or someone you know, needs a little help in providing food for their family, please share our information with them and please feel welcome to visit our pantry. You won’t find a friendlier greeting anywhere than when you walk through our doors. Lil and Nancy are the best at what they do. Not only do they welcome people like they are family when they arrive, but they check them in, make certain their information is what we require, provide instructions if needed, give out a voucher if we have them to give out, weigh their food, record the weight of the food for our reporting needs, and then merrily wish everyone a good rest of the day as they walk back out the door with their food. Speaking of our day’s work, we would very much appreciate it if folks would be here no later than 2:30 p.m. so we can go home by 3:00. (We have been hustling to prepare for our clients since 9:30 a.m. or so that morning, so we are plenty tired by 3:00 p.m.) We are open ALL Mondays in March, but will be CLOSED Monday, April 6th, for Easter Monday. Please plan ahead.
If you’d like to follow us, we are on Facebook at Mountrail Community Food Pantry. You will see any announcements we may have, especially as winter weather is here, as well as fun pictures.
We have worked hard for quite a few years now, to smooth the rough edges of the stigma that somehow is attached to getting help from a food pantry. It is definitely so much better than it used to be, and our clients share with us how welcome they feel… but there are still folks that feel shy or embarrassed to seek help. Some reach out to visit with me, and we talk about why the food pantry is here, about the community that does its best to take care of each other. We are here to help people feed their families. It’s why we exist. It is our goal. It is our mission. And we serve with compassion and respect.
During our visit, there are often opportunities to gently point out how that person may have helped others along the way, from holding a door open to helping to carry something heavy… to a myriad of other things. Thinking about those things makes it a little easier to see that giving and receiving help is kind of what we do, as humans. At least, it plants a seed or two. God takes care of the rest.
If you know someone that is short of food, please share this with them. If you are short of food, then this is aimed right at you. Please come to our pantry. The day will come when things will be better, and you may not need help any longer. And that will be wonderful. The time that you spent needing help, however, will have given you an eagle eye in the future to spot those that just might need some assistance of their own. And you will be able to point them in the direction of that help, along with a little encouragement, and maybe a few tidbits of wisdom sprinkled in… which brings us right back around to how it is our natural instinct to help when we can.
It’s an incredibly beautiful circle that we are so blessed to be a part of…
With much love,
Mary