HSV Community Foundation spotlights food pantry
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — Members of the Hot Springs Village Community Foundation Grants committee made site visit to the Faith Fellowship Church Food Pantry, which is the fourth largest in the state and distributes food twice monthly to an average of 1,000 families based on zip code (all of Garland County and 71909 zip code in Saline County). Food is donated three times a week from Sam’s Club and Walmart on Central in Hot Springs, and once weekly from HSV Walmart. Food is also purchased through the HOPE Project at discounted prices. Banana boxes, many of which are donated by Food Wise are used to package food to be distributed.
In 2017, 75 different volunteers helped with the 24 distributions, along with the “back work” that is done to make this happen, including unloading donated or purchased items into the warehouse, reweighing, sorting and preparing the boxes with staples in readiness for the perishable goods to be added to boxes on give-away days. Each box contains staples, snacks, dairy products and 12-15 pounds of meat. The food pantry also donates food to the Hot Springs Samaritan Ministries and Safe Haven, Teen Challenge, SoZo rehab center in Jessieville and Owensville Baptist Church.
“Anyone … who lives in Garland County or the noted area of Saline County, can come to our pantry (by zip code) once a month and receive food. Our distributions err on the side of mercy, as there are no qualifiers that would prevent a person from receiving food from our pantry,” said Jim Perry, director of the FFCFP, in the press release.
Food received and distributed in 2017 was 707,746 pounds, serving 18,661 families (36,882 people). The average weight of each box was approximately 38 pounds and cost the food pantry slightly more than $4 each to provide.
“We are proud our foundation can assist Faith Fellowship Church Food Pantry in their efforts to feed the less fortunate in our greater community,” said Teri Jackson, chair of the local Foundation Grants committee, in the release.