With the holidays just around the corner, many have already begun preparing their menus and making out their grocery lists. Thanksgiving and Christmas are times when we gather with friends and family to share a meal.

Unfortunately, there are many in our community that do not have the luxury of baking family favorites or inviting guests for dinner, but thanks to the Storehouse Community Food Pantry, these people can at least have food on their tables.

Last year, the local food pantry provided more than 10,000 meals during the months of November and December serving over 800 individuals.

In an effort to provide food for those less fortunate, the Storehouse Community Food Pantry is always seeking donations, especially during the holidays.

“Donations of money or food are greatly appreciated and certainly we will have more business this time of year because people who have families getting together will have more mouths to feed, so I am sure we will have a big demand during this holiday season,” president of the Storehouse Community Food Pantry Bill Mounger said.

In addition to donations, Mounger said the non-profit group is also seeking volunteers.

“We can’t have too many volunteers,” Mounger said, especially during the holidays.

Like many, he said the Storehouse Community Food Pantry’s regular volunteers often times go out of town for the holidays or they may be hosting company and they are unable to work their regular shifts, leaving the food pantry shorthanded.

No experience is necessary for those who may be interested in volunteering their time and service at the food pantry, Mounger said.

“You just need a willingness to serve the community,” he said, adding, “Volunteers at the food pantry have several functions,” one of which is helping with the paper work.

Some of the food pantry volunteers will interview new clients when they come in, Mounger said, to help access their needs as well as check in clients that have been served by the Storehouse Community Food Pantry in the past.

Mounger said all clients and potential clients served by the food pantry must present a Social Security card as well as a picture ID.

In addition to volunteers helping with paper work, Mounger said most of the volunteer’s stock shelves, load and unload food, help clients take food to their vehicles and put together food bags.

“We bag food by the size of the families that come in. We already have them pre-bagged,” he said for efficiency.

The Storehouse Community Food pantry provides three meals for four days for all family members living in the household, and currently, the food pantry allows clients to come in four times a year, Mounger said.

“If we stayed open and let people come every day that would be wonderful, but we don’t have the resources to do that,” he said, “so right now we limit people to four times a year and we ask them to come when it is only a real emergency.”

Also, he said, clients served by the food pantry must wait at least 30 days in between visits.

Pantry began with food drive

The notion of starting a food pantry in Vicksburg came after Barbara Tolliver, who served as executive director of the United Way, and the Reverends Bill and Diane Livingston of Christ Episcopal Church, had had many people come to them in need of temporary assistance for food, Mounger said.

In 2001, the Livingstons, Tolliver and a group of about 40 more people representing local churches and other organizations, who were dedicated to dealing with hunger, researched and visited other food pantries, Mounger said.

And in 2002 the Storehouse Community Food Pantry, which is an all-volunteer organization, opened its doors having only food provided by the Letter Carriers annual food drive.

Since its inception, the local food pantry now receives donations of chicken from a major chicken processor and meat and other grocery items from a local grocery store.

“But since we still have to purchase the majority of the food we give out,” Mounger said, “donations are always appreciated because each meal we provide costs the food pantry approximately $1.”

In just the past few months, the Storehouse Community Food Pantry has relocated to inside the Good Shepherd Community Center, 629 Cherry St.

The hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to noon Mondays and Wednesdays and from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursdays.

For more information on the Storehouse Community Food Pantry, visit vicksburgfoodpantry.org.