Food Pantry Fundraiser Success at Eagles
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The Chinook Eagles Club hosted a fundraising dinner for the Blaine County Food Pantry this past Friday, October 14th. They served hamburger steak with mushrooms, onions and gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. They were able to raise a large amount of money for the food pantry, which will help go towards purchasing food as well as coordinating other outreach initiatives.
This is at least the 5th annual dinner held in Chinook for the Food Pantry. It began with a philanthropic contest between regional Town Pump locations to see who could raise the most money for their respective food pantries. Town Pump matches funds raised up to $4,000 during a specified time each year. Through fundraising efforts and a dinner held at Lucky Lil’s Casino at Town Pump, over $3,000 was raised the first year. Once their efforts were matched, over $6,000 was donated to the Blaine County Food Pantry.
Jeanne Dalton, the current director of the Blaine County Food Pantry, informed us that all monetary donations are currently being matched by Town Pump through the end of October. This is a great opportunity to ensure that your donation goes even further during the season where the Food Pantry needs the most help. They can accept donations of fresh, canned, and frozen goods, however, Jeanne advised us that they are most in need of monetary donations.
Your donations go towards being able to purchase food specifically needed at the time as well as outreach programs to help other areas of Blaine County such as a mobile truck to get to Hays. Families can come to the Pantry with ID showing they are Blaine Country residents once per quarter plus up to an additional 2 referrals per year. That means families in need can get assistance up to 6 times each year. During each visit, families are provided with approximately 15 pounds of food per person. With family sizes currently averaging 4.3, that is about 60 pounds of food per family. The Pantry serves 800 families on average each quarter – that need adds up quickly!
The county always needs more to provide to those in need, but the Pantry is limited currently by financial and volunteer constraints. They rely solely on volunteer efforts, so if you would like to help, contact Jeanne. The Pantry will need help unloading their monthly food delivery on Thursday, November 3rd, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. but they can always use volunteers during other times. Only about 25% of their food and volunteer needs come from their monthly food delivery. Often, they take advantage of case sales at Finley’s Food Farm as well.
The Blaine County Food Pantry is located in the VFW Veteran’s Memorial Hall in Chinook and is open on Tuesdays from 1:00-3:30 pm. To help the Food Pantry through donations of time or money, contact Jeanne Dalton at 357-2799.
