By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
When Thanksgiving comes around each year, the thought of food, in the absence or abundance of food, begins to take a prominent place in people’s thoughts. Holidays and food are first on mind, and no one wants anyone to go hungry, especially at this time of year.
It is more important this year due to the government shutdown, because those who depend on the SNAP program had to scrabble to find food, and some had less food for a time.
Many of the temporary food drives offered by the cities, schools, churches and other places have just closed, but those drives are usually held every November.
Go Pantry is a non-profit organization located on Kentucky Drive in Florence, and they want to feed children through schools, and on days when school isn’t open.
Beth McIntire, co-Founder and executive director of GO Pantry, said that many agencies are doing food drives that benefit the Pantry, and their most needed items are fruit cups, poptarts and microwaveable popcorn. For anyone who would like to donate to GO Pantry, McIntire said they would love to have the items by December 3 so they can put them in the GO boxes for winter break, when children aren’t in school to have the food that schools provide.
She also said they have a program for December called Racing to Restock, a program that has a goal of $35,000, a goal they hope to achieve by means of donations and fundraisers. Click here for more information Racing to Restock.
“The organization’s Racing to Restock holiday campaign focuses on financial gifts that can then be used to purchase items in bulk for lower prices than what the same items are sold for in a grocery store,” said McIntire. “Racing to Restock encourages the outreach’s supporters to virtually race against one another to see who can raise the most money by New Year’s eve. So far, the effort has raised over $5,600 among 12 teams and 18 fundraisers who are competing for bragging rights and other prizes. GO Pantry’s overall goal for the campaign is to secure $35,000 by the end of the holiday season.”
The city of Florence just closed their food drive last Friday and representatives took all the donations over to Collins Elementary School, for the Boone County Family Resource Center which does their best to provide for children and families in the Boone County school system.
“Duke also donated $1000 to our food drive, which we sent on to the resource center,” said Florence City Clerk Melissa Kramer. “We had a list of items that could be donated, like peanut butter, canned fruit, tuna and chicken, rice, applesauce,tomato sauce, fruit bars and granola bars. It seemed to me that we had a little more this year than usual.”
The city of Erlanger participated in a non-traditional food drive.
“Our city and Police Department Social Services Program worked with Feed the Soul, a Cincinnati based non-profit,” said Lauryn Groce, Community Engagement Coordinator for the city. “Feed the Soul donated 50 bags of fresh produce, and we gave those bags out to Erlange residents. Police officers and firefighters worked together to distribute the bags to residents in a drive through situation, and then they also made direct donations to a local apartment complex that mostly caters to senior citizens.”
She said that the drive is over for this year but if anyone is in need of assistance in Erlange, the Social Services Coordinator, Maryann Moore is available to help.
Notre Dame Academy, Covington Catholic High School, and St Henry schools, as well as other schools, hold food drives every November, with some of the drives benefitting Go Pantry, and some filling the food shelves at St Vincent de Paul, as well as other non-profits.
Florence Christian Church has a Care and Share food pantry that is open to people every second and fourth Tuesday in the lower parking lot. They did hold a special dinner on November 8, for people who signed up. They ask people to donate shelf stable items like cereal, pasta, and canned soup, and canned meat, such as tuna, chicken, vienna sausages and spam. They also have a Fresh Start Shower Ministry and donations to that part includes personal hygiene items such as body wash, shampoo and conditioner, razors and travel size shaving cream, peanut butter and individual snacks. Donations can be dropped off in the church office from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The United Christian Volunteers is a small steady group of mostly retired people located at 15 Kenton Street in Elsmere who have been in existence since the 90’s. They are an independent non-profit organization. The food pantry is open all year, and they have other items that are donated. They are open from 9 to 11:30 a.m. weekdays, as well as the first and third Saturday morning of the month. They do require proof that people live in either Erlanger or Elsmere.
“When people sign up in October, they sign up for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” said Jim Gregg, the Director of the Volunteers. “Last Monday and Tuesday we gave each family that signed up a turkey and a $25 gift certificate to Kroger’s. For Christmas we will give just a $50 gift certificate. The turkeys proved to be too difficult.”
Be Concerned is a non-profit organization at 1100 West Pike Street in Covington. They have a pantry all year round with non-perishable goods for people.
“This year we received a large donation from Last Mile Food Rescue, and on November 24 we will be giving out a turkey with a box of sides from 9 a.m. until they are gone,” said Susan Drahman. “There are 300, and they will be gone quickly.”
With most of the organizations, people have to sign up and tell how many people are in their home and other details.
Mary Rose Mission is the only soup kitchen in Florence and is a Catholic non-profit organization. Their mission is to provide food to the hungry and food insecure population in Florence. They opened their doors in March of 2013, but were only able to provide meals twice a week. Now they serve a hot meal every evening from 4 to 5:30 p.m., serving approximately 100 to 125 per night. That includes holidays. At the building at 272 Main Street in Florence, people only have to show up at the back door by 4 p.m., and they don’t have to fill out forms. Anyone who is hungry is welcome.
Check out the nonprofit food sources in your community to see what you can help — and contribute.