Serving about 530 families each month, the Village Food Pantry in Leawood, Kan. works year-round to help members in the community who may be going through a rough patch in their lives.
The food pantry is a free-standing building at 9960 Mission Rd, owned by Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kan.
About 300 volunteers come out every month, according to Susan Webb, food pantry director. Individuals may come two or three times a week while others may visit once during the year. Some have been volunteering at the pantry for 15 years.
Webb said everything the food pantry gives away is through donations.
Prior to visiting the pantry, clients are screened over the telephone for their income and household size. They visit by appointment only, Webb said.
Clients are then able to go around the building and “shop”, selecting food and items based on household size. Clients are accompanied by a volunteer and are able to select the items that they want within the quantity guidelines.
The food pantry is limited in the number of new people that they take each month, according to Webb.
“Each week we take a few new families as other people drop out because their life situation improves or they end up going somewhere else,” Webb said. “But we have no restrictions based on where a person lives, it’s strictly based on income levels.”
The vast majority of the clients that visit the food pantry are elderly, disabled or living alone off a disability check, Webb said.
Her favorite part about being a part of the food pantry is working with the people there.
“There’s a wide variety of people from all walks of life,” she said. “It’s just been wonderful to see everybody kind of working together and helping the community and helping each other and we learn a lot from the people that come in here.”
The pantry does also receive feedback from clients.
“We get thank you notes from people sometimes that will call in and tell us about a rough patch they had for awhile and how they came here, maybe just for a few months, until they got back on their feet and what a difference it made in their lives,” Webb said.
Compiled by Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, scook35@jccc.edu.