Why a second pantry?

I hope you had a blessed Christmas, and as the new year arrives, may 2012 be an amazing year for you!. Earlier this month I emailed about our Holiday Hero Campaign. (Click here to read more.) One of the four new things in the new year that prompted the email is the opening of our second pantry.  I want to share just a little more about it.   First, I still don't know what we are going to call this new pantry.  It is something new for us and needs a new name.  Common Cupboard is a pantry for you and me to draw from to serve others.  This new pantry will be a place where people come to us. They will receive government commodities, produce and baked goods along with a heart to listen, love and care. A place we invite people to come experience God's love in practical ways.   Why a second pantry? Well,to make a long story, short. An opportunity to expand our reach into the community came in May.  We were offered to be a host site for TEFAP, the US government commodity distribution program. We were excited to do it, but found out that Common Cupboard focus on delivering groceries was inconsistent with how this program worked.    This glitch created a gap in the distribution model that Second Harvest had envisioned. The western half of Union County was without a distribution site. We began to look for partners to create a new distribution point.   Through a God ordained, chance meeting, my wife met Leah Parker, Program Director, from June Bugs Child Development Center in Stallings. Over the next couple months this new friendship made way for the opening of this new pantry at June Bugs.   What does this new pantry do for us?  In short it expands our ability to serve in your neighborhood and mine.  It will bring people struggling with unemployment and difficult times to us.  In the Indian Trail area, the reality is that needs are hidden and sometimes difficult to find.  In Monroe, when we started the cupboard, we just went door to door in low income neighborhoods to find people in need to serve.  Here in western Union County, your neighbor may be unemployed and struggling, and you may not know it until the house has been foreclosed.  This new pantry will help bring people out of hiding and help us reach out to them.   In combination with the new benefits and the tax assistance services, you and I will be able to make a major contribution to "bridging the gap" for these families, and open more hearts through demonstrating God's love.   This is one of the four new initiatives as we turn the calendar page.  I will be sharing more about each of these during the next couple weeks. They are the reason that we are looking for 100 Holiday Heroes at the end of the year. You can read more about the four new initiatives and Holiday Heroes at www.razoo.com/HolidayHero   Just 6 more days till the calendar page turns. Will you be one of our Holiday Heroes?  Thanks for your prayers, gifts and service. With one Common Heart,     Keith  Keith Adams Executive Director ----------  End Post:  Why a second pantry ------