Pantry 279 wraps up its Thanksgiving meal distribution this week.
The pantry had a productive year, distributing to about 2,500 families, which feeds about 18,000 people. This includes 407 deliveries as well as the main distribution days.
Director Cindy Chavez expects the pantry will be able to distribute to around 250 more families leading up to Thanksgiving.
“The community really went all out as they always do every year,” Chavez said. “They dug deep, they got us everything we needed, and we made this happen.”
She said families are able to pick up the meal donation on top of a regular weekly pickup. She estimated that each Thanksgiving meal donation could feed as many as 15 people.
Chavez said the pantry still needs about $13,000 to pay for the meat that was distributed with the holiday meals.
Community members can find ways to donate on the pantry’s Facebook page.
Read more: Pantry 279 moves to new location
Along with regular donations, the pantry is hoping to do an Elf Dispatch gifting program again this year. However, it is still looking for a space to have the event for the month. The pantry needs at least 3,000 square feet of empty space to operate the program.
The gifting program is like Angel Tree and Toys for Tots. Chavez said that they hand-match each “Santa” to a child on their gifting list. Last year, the pantry was able to give gifts to 1,907 children.
The pantry is still looking for people who would like to provide a gift this year.
The registration list will go live on the pantry’s website at 1 p.m. Monday. Chavez said last year the spots filled up in 12 hours.
“The big thing is that they cannot be signed up with any other gifting program,” Chavez said. “Not Toys for Tots, not Salvation Army, not to the school systems. Nothing. And we do crisscross lists all the time and make sure that people don't double dip like that.”
Chavez said they are looking forward to doing another present-shopping livestream this year.
“It was a lot of fun,” Chavez said. “There were three of us, and we had two shopping carts each, and it was crazy.”
The pantry will deliver the gifts the week of Dec. 11.
