Pantry 279 received a delivery of 40,000 pounds of food Wednesday that will feed about 1,400 residents.
The delivery, sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Just Serve in partnership with America250, is part of a nationwide initiative to address food insecurity. To celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, 250 truckloads of food will be delivered to 250 food banks in all 50 states. Pantry 279, which is on the Bloomington-Ellettsville border, is one of the 250 food banks.
“America 250 reflects a shared commitment to community service and community impact,” Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas said. “The need is greater now more than ever, (with the) cost of gas, inflation, and everything else eating away at our family's budgets while we need to eat.”
Read more: State blames costly, complex federal changes for schoolchildren summer food aid opt-out
Each truck has approximately 40,000 pounds of food, including fruits, vegetables, meat, pasta, flour and dried milk. The food is funded through donations from Church members, many of whom came to celebrate the delivery and help sort food.
Pantry 279 Executive Director Cindy Chavez said the pantry is serving 17 percent more unique individuals this year compared to last year. Despite higher demand, the pantry has received fewer deliveries in the past year. Chavez has had to purchase more food to help meet demand. Last year, Chavez said she spent over $115,000 buying food. That's out of the $400,000 the pantry had. This year, she's on track to spend more.
She has also been relying on donations to feed the community.
“I said, if we could just make it to June 24 then we're going to get this lovely truck, and we'll be okay,” she said. "And people struggled. They've given us one can at a time. Some of them have given us flatter cans at times. Everything counts. We have the deer hunters that come in and they give us their deer, that's been very helpful. We have butcher shops calling, donating food. Everybody's been chipping in.”
When the pantry first opened in 2015, Chavez said it served about 600 people in its first month, and 1,200 in the second month. Last year, the pantry served approximately 137,000 people. From January to June 2025, Chavez said about 40,500 people were fed. Since January, the pantry has served over 55,000 people across 39 counties.
Chavez said this food delivery will help.
“Our shelves will be full, and our people will be able to have higher limits than they've been used to since probably summer, for a lot of people,” she said. “So, we will be able to put a lot more food on the table. Deliveries will get a lot more food, which is wonderful. The children's summer food program will not be going off scraps. We'll be able to get more food into our children.”
