“It’s [been] three years since the pantry moved from a small church about six blocks away to where we are now,” Reed said. “At that time, we were serving like 75 families a week, and now, within that three-year period, we’re serving an average of 300 families a week at that location.”
Reed credited Executive Director and Village Pantry Founder Pam Benson for facilitating that growth over the years. Reed said Benson, a machinist who’s been with the Ford Motor Co. for over 30 years, considers the pantry her calling.
“This is her mission; this is what God has given her, and she makes it work,” Reed said. “Sometimes [she] works overtime at Ford but still spends six to seven days at the pantry.”
The two $10,000 General Motors grants are the largest lump sums the pantry has received, Reed said, and they supplement the monthly donations from residents and smaller grants the pantry gets from Butler County and United Way. Reed, who’s tasked with the pantry’s accounting, said the patchwork funding has covered rent, utilities and food despite growing demand.
It’s also allowed the pantry to expand its services. Earlier this year, Benson and the Village Pantry began directly delivering food to those at Hamilton’s YWCA domestic violence shelter — saving those folks the hassle of taking several taxis to get to and from the pantry’s New Miami location.
“This continually evolves,” Reed said. “We’ll just help anybody, is basically what happens here. It’s safer for us to take food and things to them on a weekly basis than it is for them to come to us.”
The pantry, which Reed said “will never turn anyone away that needs food,” served 275 families Wednesday during its regular drive-through food drive, which runs from 4 to 6:50 p.m. every Wednesday.
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