Bare cupboards
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on December 9, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/DENNIS HILL
Lt. Sherrie Stokes of the Salvation Army checks food supplies in the organization's pantry on Tuesday. The shelves are nearly empty, and Stokes said the public is being asked to donate food items for the needy during the holidays.
The Salvation Army is preparing to give food to more than 200 families receiving Christmas assistance this year. But its pantry shelves are almost bare.
"The food pantry at this point is really empty," said Lt. Sherrie Stokes with the Salvation Army. "We're really depending on the community for help."
She said some daycares, schools and churches are conducting food drives, but the Salvation Army needs all the help it can get from the community. She said this time of the year is the organization's biggest food drive time.
"When the food comes in, we'll box it up for the Christmas boxes and see what we have left over," Mrs. Stokes said. "For our homeless community, it's best to do pop-top cans. You can buy a lot of foods in pop-top cans these days, even vegetables and fruits.
"We have a lot of guys who come in who are homeless and mothers with children who are homeless or who have a low amount of food in the house. Depending on how much income they have, they may not be eligible for food stamps. So this is where they come for food, as well as to other food pantries in the area."
The Salvation Army is looking for nonperishable foods, but foods that are not expired.
"We can't give it out if it's expired," Mrs. Stokes said. "If people in the community are clearing out their pantries looking in their cabinets to bring things in that maybe they just haven't cooked yet, just check those dates to make sure they're in date."
Any individual, group or business can donate food.
"They can do a food drive," Mrs. Stokes said. "They can put a box out or we can bring them a barrel. We'll put a sign on the front saying it's going to the Salvation Army."
But it's not just at Christmas time that the organization needs food. The Salvation Army gives food boxes out throughout the year to the needy.
"We have some churches that do spaghetti month," Mrs. Stokes said. "So they bring in spaghetti noodles with spaghetti sauce. Everyone in the church just brings it in.
"Another month might be bean month, so they'd bring in dried beans. The next month could be PB&J so they'd bring in a bunch of peanut butter and a bunch of jelly. All of that goes into our food pantry."
Mrs. Stokes said there is also a woman who, every month, buys boxes of noodles and donates about 15 boxes of them, each with several individual servings in them, to the Salvation Army's food pantry.
"She said the Salvation Army was there for her a few years ago when she was having a really rough time," Mrs. Stokes said. "She never thought she'd be one of those who needed help. She had to come to the Salvation Army and receive assistance. She said this is her way of paying back."
If an organization or business has a lot of food to donate, the Salvation Army will pick it up. Otherwise, people can take their donation to the Salvation Army at 610 N. William St. Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
"It would be nice to have frozen turkeys donated for Christmas, but that's a luxury," Mrs. Stokes said. "If there's a company out there that would like to donate turkeys, call the Salvation Army."