Despite organizing a food drive last fall, the Eudora Food Pantry needed another one Saturday to meet growing demand.
“Controlled chaos” was the term used by food drive volunteers to describe the three-hour event that collected nearly 3,000 items.
The food drive is the primary source of donations the pantry receives. Eudora Food Pantry co-coordinator Marsha Gordon said a second drive was needed in a year because the pantry was getting low on items.
The pantry relies on the community just as much as residents rely on it.
“We’re all just neighbors sharing and that’s the goal,” Gordon said.
Collecting nearly a thousand items an hour takes some manpower. Volunteers from local organizations, including the Scouts, National Honor Society, the Lions Club and others, participated in this drive by going door-to-door to collect items. The items donated consisted of dry goods, canned goods and toiletries.
After items are collected, they are taken to St. Paul Church to be sorted and stored in the food pantry.
LuAnn Pascal volunteered this year for the first time. She was one of over a dozen volunteers sorting donated items.
“I’ve been asked a couple times and it’s the first time I could do it, so I thought this would be a good time,” Pascal said.
Eagle Scout Steven Young said he remembers volunteering for the drive since he was in Cub Scouts. During the pandemic Young became a regular volunteer at the pantry.
“I first started volunteering at this food pantry in the middle of the spring break of 2020 because Scouting for Food got canceled that year and I was really used to doing that and I was a little concerned for the food pantry,” Young said.
Young said he tried to set up a personal food drive, which is when he found out he was able to volunteer for the pantry.
Gordon said the pandemic has led to an increase in donations to the pantry, which required more volunteers to help.
“There have always been volunteers from various churches involved. But I think, again, COVID, just, you know, we got the word out more, and the word is still getting out,” Gordon said.
During the early stages of the pandemic, more residents donated to the food pantry than prior to the pandemic, she said.
“So many people are needing our services that had never before,” Gordon said.
Sue Neustifter, co-coordinator of the Eudora Food Pantry, said she remembers 15 years ago when the pantry did not have the space that it has now.
“We did not have a freezer and we had to grocery shop, take it to our houses and put it in our refrigerators and freezers, and bring it down here on Wednesday mornings,” Neustifter said.
The St. Paul Church’s basement is home to the food pantry. Eudora residents can visit the pantry from 9:30 a.m. to noon every Wednesday. Currently, the pantry has three different prepackaged bags for residents to choose from.
Due to COVID-19, the pantry has not been open to shopping but volunteers have organized bags of various food items that are able to be picked up. Gordon said she anticipates the pantry to be open to shoppers within the next month.
“There were two variables deciding when. One was I wanted to make sure the county was in the green zone, which it is, and two I wanted to get past this food drive so we could get things back here,” Gordon said.
Reach reporter Hannah Nystrom at [email protected]
