April 24, 2019
Garrison poised to get pantry
By JILL DENNING GACKLE
For several years, Dawn Kolden has been the driving force behind a program to feed hungry Garrison students. Now she’s part of an effort to get feed the hungry through a food pantry.
Kolden and Nancy Leidholm teamed up to start a food pantry that they have talked about for several years.
“Nancy and I have been talking about it for a long time,” she said. “We see the need in Garrison. I used to work for the Great Plains mobile and we served so many people.”
For several years the Great Plains mobile food truck came to Garrison monthly and fed about 90 families quarterly.
Great Plains Food Bank encouraged the volunteers to find a Garrison food pantry location, but ran into the problem of finding an available building that fit the needs.
“They had been coming for years and they said you need to do something,” Kolden said. The mobile pantry stopped coming, and Great Plains will stop its mobile delivery in White Shield in July.
“We really need the pantry with the White Shield closing,” she said.
She said the people who use a food pantry fit just one criteria: they don’t have enough income to keep from going hungry. She said for some it’s health issues that keep them from earning a living, others are single parents, some are mentally handicapped and many are senior citizens on a limited income.
“There is no rhyme or reason,” she said. “It affects everybody.”
Kolden and Nancy Leidholm teamed up to start a food pantry that they have talked about for several years.
“Nancy and I have been talking about it for a long time,” she said. “We see the need in Garrison. I used to work for the Great Plains mobile and we served so many people.”
For several years the Great Plains mobile food truck came to Garrison monthly and fed about 90 families quarterly.
Great Plains Food Bank encouraged the volunteers to find a Garrison food pantry location, but ran into the problem of finding an available building that fit the needs.
“They had been coming for years and they said you need to do something,” Kolden said. The mobile pantry stopped coming, and Great Plains will stop its mobile delivery in White Shield in July.
“We really need the pantry with the White Shield closing,” she said.
She said the people who use a food pantry fit just one criteria: they don’t have enough income to keep from going hungry. She said for some it’s health issues that keep them from earning a living, others are single parents, some are mentally handicapped and many are senior citizens on a limited income.
“There is no rhyme or reason,” she said. “It affects everybody.”
