The Johnstown Food Pantry has been in existence for over 30 years. On July 27, 2024, the Food Pantry officially moved into its new home at One Church Street! During 2024, the Food Pantry distributed enough food to make over 68,000 meals.
Who are the people that come to the Pantry? It is a patchwork quilt of people who benefit from the extra help that we are able, that we are called, that we are privileged, to provide.
Here are some micro-stories of people we’ve met:
* A woman who just got out of the hospital and got home to find her three kids starving. Her partner had not bothered to feed them while she was away.
* An older man who is taking care of his grandchildren after school every day.
* A disabled person on fixed income.
* A man, just released from prison, and his partner as they try to establish a new life together, but they have nothing to start with.
* A teenager who picks up the food for his family because his mother has breast cancer and is dying.
* A man with mental illness, mostly under control, who thinks he is a famous person, but hey! even famous people need to eat, right?
* A mother and daughter who share a household with three generations in one home. They pick their food carefully so they don’t take more than they need.
These are REAL stories, not made up. These are our neighbors, people we get to know over time who are grateful for the food and the community we provide.
(All photos used in this image are stock photos, but each reminded us of people we’ve have met at our Pantry.)
How does a free choice Pantry work? Every one of our neighbors that comes into the pantry sits with one of our volunteers to make specific choices about what they need for the week ahead. You can see on these slips that the offerings change weekly. Since we are an emergency Pantry, we are tasked with giving enough food to last for 3 days. Generally our pantry gives much more than that because we often have extra items such as fruits and vegetables that we are able to give our guests.
We follow nutrition guidelines that have been given to us to make sure we are giving each family enough food. These little slips of paper are the first way that our guests are able to make choices that will work for them.
Some of our Generous Donors
August 27, 2023 – Yesterday Mother Laurie sent out a post about how bare the Food Pantry shelves were. And then today–this!! Thanks, Becky and Hanz, for caring about your community!
One Church Street 