Mountrail Community Food Pantry January News
The Mountrail Community Food Pantry provided 11,794 pounds of food to 89 Mountrail County families in January for a total of 303 people, of which eleven were children and forty-two were seniors. Cashwise donated 5,759 pounds of food that Greg and Bill loaded up, hauled, unloaded and weighed, which was then stocked in our pantry. It was NOT balmy weather outside! Thank you, Cashwise. And of course, thank you Greg and Bill.
We received many wonderful donations in January, from individuals, and from area churches. Thank you all so very much! We also were awarded the Twice Blessed Funds, which Inspiritus (formerly St. Joseph’s Community Foundation) offers as a way to help community organizations. The idea is, people donate to Inspiritus, and they match the donations. Each organization has a designated cap for what Inspiritus will match. Anything donated over that cap is passed on to the organization as that same amount. We were so thankful for the number of people that chose to donate to our pantry in this manner. Hopefully, each of you received a thank you note from us, as we tried to keep up with the Inspiritus spreadsheet information. As someone donated, a thank you was written, in hopes that we wouldn’t miss anyone! And, of course, a thank you note was also written to Inspiritus for the work they do to make this all possible for so many.
We did start our application process over in January, where people fill out a new application and provide proof of their physical address. I sit out in the hallway and take this new information, so the pantry doesn’t get congested by the slower process, and it keeps traffic flowing smoothly. I’m tickled pink how many people are bringing everything they need right off the bat. It makes it so nice to just be done for another year. For those that forget, there is always a grace period. They can still get their food that day, but they MUST bring their proof of physical address the next month. It works out pretty well.
As I write this newsletter, we are almost out of hamburger, which is a staple that we do our level best to provide each month. Thankfully, one of our local ranchers has some to spare, and will deliver it right to our door on Monday. Another perfect example of how wonderfully our community takes care of us.
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 p.m. 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. That’s one thing about sitting out in the hallway. I really miss hearing that joyful chatter as the volunteers work. Speaking of our days 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 p.m. (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!) We are open all Mondays in February EXCEPT the 16th. WE WILL BE CLOSED FEBRUARY 16th in observance of President’s Day. The whole building will be closed. Just an FYI, as I stated above, we started our application process over in January, so folks will need to bring their ID with proof of their physical address again, if they didn’t already do so in January.
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.
And lastly, we had our annual board meeting. We always open and close with prayer. A few minutes before we began our meeting, we learned that our dear neighbor, Roger Evans, had gone Home. There was a moment of silence as we processed this shocking news. Roger was a very good man, well-respected by his community and dearly loved by his friends and family.
And as it goes when God is near, our opening prayer giver adapted to the situation beautifully. In addition to asking for guidance in all our decision-making and offering gratitude for this wonderful pantry, we firmly held Roger’s family close, fervently asking for their comfort and for their strength. It’s a board meeting prayer that I will never forget…
Valentine’s Day is approaching… yes, there is the whirlwind of advertising, chocolates, flowers, sparkly things… but it is so much more than that. It’s a day to celebrate the people we love… not with gifts, necessarily, (although sparkles are amazing… insert giant mischievous smiley face here) but more-so, with heartfelt words, with actions, with kind gestures. It occurs to me that every day should be Valentine’s Day then… because it makes absolute sense to celebrate the people we love. Every. Single. Day. This is our time…
May God bless you and keep you,
with love,
Mary