They stepped up to prepare 550 food boxes
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
When people come through the food pantry at Love Inc., they generally receive enough food for five days.
Five days – and they are allowed to come once a month. That disproportionate number is something Love Inc. – and Karcher Middle School – decided to tackle at the start of the new year.
“Our deal was, we want to get more food to people,” said Karcher teacher Lori Hintz, who is also a member of the board of directors at Love Inc. She stressed that the pantry isn’t large enough to have people come through more than once a month.
That was when Hintz hit upon the idea of putting the boxes of food together at Karcher and then moving them to the food pantry.
“It kind of just fell into place,” Hintz said. “My advisory (Karcher’s version of homeroom) kids took the lead on it and organized the school.”
Hintz said the school has been working on the project for about five or six weeks. A total of 550 boxes were first put together, and then filled with staples – six cans of soup, six cans of vegetables and six cans of fruit, a box of spaghetti and a can of spaghetti sauce.
Then the students, working like a bucket brigade last Friday, transported all 550 boxes from the third floor of Karcher School to the Love Inc. truck waiting on the street below.
In total, Love Inc. spent about $10,000 to purchase the extra food.
“We had an influx of donations to the food pantry, and we felt this was a way to get more food to the people who needed it,” said Bill Schoessling, Love Inc.’s executive director.
He said it was a good feeling to be able to get more food to those who needed it.
“I think if we can provide anything more than five days, we should be doing more for the people,” Schoessling said. “This was just an opportunity to take more of these funds and get a little bit more to those who need it.”
Also, the boxes allowed the pantry to provide foods that aren’t always in the pantry.
“They’re there from time to time, but not on a weekly basis,” Schoessling said.
Currently, the pantry is in desperate need of the following items: canned meats (stews, Spam, etc.), cereals, fruit, vegetables, Hamburger Helper, toilet paper, peanut butter and jelly.
Perishable items such as fresh meat are also needed.
The pantry served 604 families last month. A family could be one person – “or it could be 12,” Schoessling said.
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