The NEEDS pantry welcomes donations of non-perishable foods, but we’re also thrilled when our partners help us to provide fresh food to our clients. Recently, a joint effort with St Vincent De Paul resulted in NEEDS’ being able to offer clients a supply of milk for their families. As pantry coordinator Maureen shares:

“The cost of milk by the gallon mounts up, especially when the NEEDS pantry needs 20 gallons on each day it is open. On rare occasions, milk is available through the Freestore Foodbank at no cost to food pantries. And we may receive a few gallons in a random donation. But receiving funding for milk on an ongoing basis was a real gift to NEEDS.

Mike Hathorn, president of the Saint Saviour Parish’s St. Vincent de Paul chapter and a long-time board member of NEEDS, facilitated that gift. While the chapter runs its own food pantry, the facility has no refrigeration. It gives its neighbors grocery vouchers for the local IGA supermarket. The store’s manager, in turn, gave the chapter with four $500 gift cards for use only on milk. But with no refrigerator in which to store the milk, Mike passed on one of the gift cards to the NEEDS pantry. And when we depleted the card amount, he gave us a second card!

‘When you use that one up,” Mike said, ‘just give me a call. I’ll probably still have the other two and will give you one.’

It’s a team effort to feed our neighbors in need. We’re grateful that Mike and NEEDS are on the same team!”