Middlebury Food Pantry has new location, new dream

MIDDLEBURY – After over three years of labor, Middlebury Community Food Pantry is finally ready to open the doors of their new facility, located at 13307 County Road 16, Middlebury; attached to the Pleasant Oaks Preschool. The building was formerly the Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church.

The food pantry serves 80-100 families every month and, until now, they’ve been doing it out of a small closet at the First Mennonite Church in Middlebury.

Middlebury Community Food Pantry is different from many pantries because they offer a week’s worth of food to their clients, once a month, including farm fresh eggs and milk by way of vouchers to local grocery stores or at their own location.

Co-Director Pam Bingaman says work like this is possible thanks to the community.

“The entire community supports this food pantry,” she said. Town residents with chickens bring in the extra eggs, local stores work with them providing skids full of food, and volunteers help every Saturday and throughout the rest of the week to serve those in need. Bingaman recalls business owners providing time and materials to get the new facility running, even providing new floors.

"It's just about taking care and looking out for our neighbors and just remembering that everybody has a need of some kind,” she said,

The Middlebury Community Food Pantry isn’t done growing just yet, though. Bursting at the seams with food and volunteers, the pantry is now seeking to provide even more services for their clients. Clients have requested classes such as gardening, food preparation, financial training, addiction recovery and individual financial counselling. Teachers for these classes are already in place, but resources and funding is still needed. Possible funding for the programs could come from clients paying for classes or volunteering to stand as payment, but specifics aren’t yet in place. The Middlebury Community Food Pantry hopes to have some of these courses started as early as the beginning of 2018.

“We would very much like to encourage that there be something like that in town,” Bingaman said. “To offer programs that really affect change in people’s lives, that help them when they’re asking for it, help them with what they need help with.”

“Everybody has a need of some kind,” she added. “Sometimes food is just a sense of security. If everything else in their life is out of control, they know they can come here and get food and friendship, that’s kind of the direction we’re hoping to go. We don’t want to just remain the hand out place, we want to be the hand up place.”

Middlebury Community Food Pantry will be hosting an open house event entitled “Come Explore the Possibilities” at their new location from 1 - 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, with tours and information on programs they’re hoping to instate, equipment they still need and other wishlist items to talk with the public about, to share their vision for what the food pantry could become.

Middlebury Community Food Pantry is open from 8:30 - 11 a.m. Saturdays. Clients are asked to pick up food only once per month if possible. Emergency walk-ins are accepted when volunteers are available and homebound clients are visited twice monthly. Anyone in need in the Michiana area is welcome to visit. For more information or to get into contact with the Middlebury Community Food Pantry call (574) 825-5135.

By DANI MESSICK - dmessick@elkharttruth.com Oct 28, 2017