The dozens of food items donated by community business people at Thursday’s Great Bend Chamber Coffee filled two tote boxes, but that was only a portion of what will go to area food pantries. Chamber President Megan Barfield said she’d received about $1,000 in donations during the week and people can continue to drop off nonperishable items or money at the Chamber Office, 1125 Williams St., next week.
“This came about from chamber board members wanting to give back, so we organized a food drive for our annual Board/Ambassador/Young Professionals end-of-year celebration held on December 5th.
From there we decided to extend it to the business community by way of the December 14th Chamber Coffee that I have dubbed the “Food Drive Edition,” Barfield said.
“Let’s keep this spirit going,” Barfield said at the coffee. “We thought it might be fun to divvy up some donations amongst various food pantries across the county and have that be a gift from the entire business community.”
She acknowledged that several businesses have already conducted charity drives of their own this holiday season.
The Community Food Bank of Barton County is well known, Barfield said. Area towns also have food banks. For Thursday’s program, she mentioned some food pantries that may be less well-known:
Great Bend High School’s Panther Food Pantry
Andrea Bauer with Great Bend USD 428 was asked to talk about a food pantry at GBHS that helps students. The high school also has a hygiene closet, she said.
“Kids who may be nervous about the weekend or whatnot can discretely pick up a bag of food,” she said. The pantry is filled with things that are easy to prepare.
Anyone wanting to donate can contact Rachel Thexton at the GBHS counselor’s office.
In addition, MPIRE Realty Group and Kansas Trophy Experience recently donated frozen ground venison right before Thanksgiving, from a post outside of the high school. “We’ve got another one scheduled for next week where we send frozen ground venison home with families.”
Pantry at the High Rise
Great Bend Housing Authority, known as the High Rise, has a pantry on the 12th floor with nonperishable foods and hygiene items. Rice and noodles are popular. The contact person is Lynn Fleming, director.
Non-food pantry
Catholic Charities of Southwest Kansashas a nonfood pantry for items such as hygiene products and diapers.
Cougar Supply Den
Nolan Esfeld and Patrick Busch from Barton Community College talked about the Cougar Supply Den and Cougar Closet.
The food pantry started circa 2017 as “just a little closet,” said Esfeld, director of Student Academic Development. “We had a couple of board members that helped jump-start it and some funds. Since then we’ve been searching for different grants and donations; we’ve added a commercial refrigerator and a commercial freezer. It’s been really important to us because we have a lot of students who come to campus from out of state and other places and don’t have transportation. Some have very specific dietary needs.”
Esfeld sees this project as contributing to student success. “The last thing I want them to do is decide between paying for gas to go to class or getting a meal. We’re really appreciative that we’re able to provide that for those students. We have about 350 entries a month, so it is pretty well used.”
Students can walk in any time and use the pantry as needed, whether it’s once a day for a snack or occasionally for weekend meals.
The Cougar Closet in the Student Union has nonfood items such as jackets, coats, sheets and pillowcases. “Ninety percent of that comes from the students,” said Busch, Cougar Supply Den sponsor and director of Central Kansas Upward Bound. Many times when they leave student housing they leave their bedding behind. Volunteers wash the items and add them to the closet, which things can be picked up any time the Union is open.
Anyone interested in contributing can send Esfeld an email at esfeldn@bartonccc.edu.
