News : Vinton Food Pantry's Linda Wood Retires

The Vinton Food Pantry will mark a significant milestone, effective Monday, December 12.

One of our long-time leaders, Linda Wood, is retiring from her pantry work after 14 years. Our pantry has grown and evolved greatly over that time, thanks to a terrific crew of volunteers, Linda, Vickie Holst and Elaine Bearbower.

Our food pantry has been serving Vinton and surrounding communities since it was incorporated in 1985. We began small, providing mostly canned goods, and grew steadily over the years, continually serving needy families every week.

We are open each Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and our numbers have grown substantially this year. We serve several hundred households each month. In November alone, we helped 402 households with 971 people - 710 adults and 261 kids. This year, January through November, we have provided for more than 3,000 households with 5,013 adults and 2,050 kids, or 7,063 people. Managing this takes a lot of work, and our directors are at it several days a week.

Linda's vision has helped us broaden our ability to provide a wider variety of food and non-food items (esp. personal hygiene items), with great support from our community through generous donations. We are 100% funded by donations.

We will miss Linda greatly, but salute her for her dedication. Please thank her when you see her out and about, or better yet - donate in her honor. We are located at 811 D Avenue in the Benton County Service Center (formerly West Elementary School) in Vinton. Donations can be dropped off there or sent to us at P.O. Box 3, Vinton, IA 52349.