The most important task happening in the background at a food pantry is the moving of fresh food from grocery stores and food banks to the pantries themselves to be sorted and distributed to the clients.Moving thousands of pounds of food a week takes its toll on the people who volunteer, but it especially takes its toll on the truck being used to haul it.The Neighborhood Center of South Lake is putting out a plea to the community to assist with fundraising for a new 26-foot refrigerated truck.”The concern of when is it going to break down? We have that every day we’re on the truck,” said volunteer Charles Sanderlin.Currently, the food truck used by the pantry is 15 years old with hundreds of thousands of miles in service of needy families across South Lake County.It’s been breaking down more frequently, too.”We’ve spent way too much on repairs, and just like your own vehicle, you don’t want to spend more on something that’s not a good investment,” said Jill Ganley, a board member with The Neighborhood Center of South Lake. “We really could use something else now.”Ganley said the goal is for the pantry to raise $250,000, the estimated cost for a new truck that a person could drive without possessing a commercial driver’s license.”We pick up about 100,000 pounds of food every single month,” she said. “We have a lot of food that comes through here.””We think that would last us another 15 years and would make us so much more efficient.”The pantry is applying for grants that would help with the cost but said it’s relying on the generosity of the community to achieve its goal.To learn more about how you can help, click here.
GROVELAND, Fla. —
The most important task happening in the background at a food pantry is the moving of fresh food from grocery stores and food banks to the pantries themselves to be sorted and distributed to the clients.
Moving thousands of pounds of food a week takes its toll on the people who volunteer but it especially takes its toll on the truck being used to haul it.
The Neighborhood Center of South Lake is putting out a plea to the community to assist with fundraising for a new, 26-foot refrigerated truck.
“The concern of when is it going to break down? We have that every day we’re on the truck,” said volunteer Charles Sanderlin.
Currently, the food truck used by the pantry is 15 years old with hundreds of thousands of miles in service of needy families across South Lake County.
It’s been breaking down more frequently, too.
“We’ve spent way too much on repairs, and just like your own vehicle, you don’t want to spend more on something that’s not a good investment,” said Jill Ganley, a board member with The Neighborhood Center of South Lake. “We really could use something else now.”
Ganley said the goal is for the pantry to raise $250,000, the estimated cost for a new truck that a person could drive without possessing a commercial driver’s license.
“We pick up about 100 thousand pounds of food every single month,” she said. “We have a lot of food that comes through here.”
“We think that would last us another 15 years and would make us so much more efficient.”
The pantry is applying for grants that would help with the cost but said it’s relying on the generosity of the community to achieve its goal.
To learn more about how you can help, click here.
Dining and Cooking