News : Vinton Food Pantry Receives Donation from Knights of Columbus

Pictured: Craig Ollinger, Rob Levis, Judy Neal, Elaine Bearbower and Greg Walston

The Vinton Food Pantry received a donation from the local Marian Council 3893 Knights of Columbus in the amount of $700. The money will go toward the purchase of supplies for the pantry. On hand to make the donation from the Marian Council 3893, Knight of Columbus were Rob Levis and Craig Ollinger. Also pictured were Greg Walston who works with Old School Produce as well as the Iowa State Extension office in Vinton, Judy Neal and Elaine Bearbower who both volunteer for the Food Pantry. Not pictured but serving that day was Sherry Crawford, she's celebrating her 25th year of volunteering with the Pantry.

The volunteer-operated project began in 1985 serving from various locations over the years. The pantry can be found at the Benton County Service Center located at 811 D Ave. Ste 26 ( use the west entrance). The Pantry helps to feed families in the area with shelf stable foods and has been able to include refrigerated and frozen foods when they are available.

Donations of nonfood items are also appreciated at the pantry. Realizing that the costs of everything have been rising, the ladies reminisced how they used to serve around 40 families just a couple of years ago, and that used to be considered a busy week. This week alone they assisted 98 families. The number of people helped since just 2010 would cover all of Benton County's population.

The pantry does appreciate food donations, but the pantry can stretch your dollar much further through the HACAP Food Reservoir which is there for the pantry to purchase food at a larger savings. Several area churches and businesses in town make regular donations to the pantry. Old School Produce has also been a huge supporter of the pantry and has donated several tons of food over the years.

The most expensive items that the pantry tries to help with are the non-food items like laundry soap, cleaning supplies and feminine hygiene products. If you ever run across a deal on these products, these items are always in demand. If you'd like to purchase a Fareway gift card for items that are not available through HACAP, that would also help.

Donations can be sent to: Vinton Food Pantry P.O. Box 3, Vinton, Iowa 52349

To contact the Food Pantry, just stop in while they are in or you can find them on Facebook!

The pantry is open on Tuesdays from 10 am - 3 pm.