Creswell Food Pantry volunteers with Jeanne Marr, Co-owner of Creswell Health Mart Pharmacy. PHOTOS PROVIDED/ CRESWELL FOOD PANTRY
It’s time to thank our community for helping the Creswell Food Pantry provide food for an average of 160 low-income families each month. Organizations, businesses and individuals are holding food drives, donating fresh produce, eggs, egg cartons, garden plants and cash, as well as volunteering in the Food Pantry and even growing produce.
The Creswell Grange recently held a food drive at Bi-Mart, collecting 150 pounds of food with cash donations totaling $30.
”The Bi-Mart staff and customers were impressed that the food drive was going on even with the worst high winds we have had in a long time. Had to move the table a few times when the rain started coming at an angle,” said Grange member Martin McClure.
Their perseverance is greatly appreciated.
Good Food Easy consistently donates fresh produce to the Creswell Food Pantry each week, year-round–285 pounds since January of this year. In late May, they also included 54 garden starts for customers to grow at their homes. Fresh produce is highly nutritious but expensive to purchase. It’s always a great addition to the food boxes.
Tangled Orchard Farm has donated over a ton of fresh eggs to the Food Pantry in 2018. Dr. Matthew Bahen took notice of the frequent Facebook posts asking for used egg cartons and decided to purchase 1,000 new jumbo egg cartons for the Food Pantry; they arrived just days before a donation of 1,100 pounds of eggs in April.
City Administrator Michelle Amberg volunteered an evening to help Food Pantry Manager Susan Blachnik carton those eggs for distribution. Eggs are a kid-friendly food that contain high-quality protein in addition to nutrients that fight diseases and protect the eyes. These donations have been outstanding!
Territorial Seed Company generously donated nearly 300 tomato starts to the Food Pantry in early June. A portion of the plants will be grown by Food Pantry sponsors, who will raise the crop for distribution at the Food Pantry. Sponsors include the Creswell Garden Club, growing plants at Seeds Community Garden (located at Creswell Church of the Nazarene), as well as three area gardeners. Blachnik is interested in expanding this idea to include other vegetables as well.
The remaining tomato plants were given to Food Pantry customers for their home gardens. This is the third year in a row that Territorial has made this incredible donation to the Food Pantry.
Creswell Health Mart Pharmacy Co-owner Jeanne Marr hosted a five-week food drive that completed in June. Health Mart matched one dollar for every pound of food collected, up to 500 pounds. In all, the Food Pantry received 536 pounds of food, the $500 Health Mart cash match, and $132.68 collected during the drive. Health Mart has offered to make this an annual event!
The Creswell Letter Carriers collected 459 pounds of food on May 5. It’s a lot of extra work for them and they always take pride in helping this community. It is worth noting that the food drive coincided with the Creswell Community-wide Yard Sale and it was a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend. They did a great job!
Jenny Donley, manager of the Creslane Elementary School student and community garden recently donated some beautiful leaf lettuce to the Food Pantry.
All these acts of kindness are impacting hunger in Creswell. We, at the Creswell Food Pantry, would like to express our sincere appreciation to our community. We invite local gardeners and farmers to donate fresh produce and eggs whenever they have a surplus. Even small donations make a big difference for our food supply.
