Some volunteers for the First Baptist Church of Moorestown’s food pantry will help with the drive on Saturday, July 26.
First Baptist Church of Moorestown will hold a drive to stock its food pantry on Saturday, July 26, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Pantry volunteers will collect donations in the church parking lot and provide receipts for tax purposes. Non-perishable items needed include shelf-stable milk, dry cereal, pancake mix, syrup, canned chicken and tuna, spam, Vienna sausage, sardines, salmon, peanut butter, pasta and sauce, Chicken or Tuna Helper, rice and prepared rice side dishes, canned spaghetti, applesauce, fruit cocktail, pineapple and similar fruit products, soap, deodorant, toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes, child and adult diapers of all sizes and feminine-hygiene products.
“The summer food drive is so important because it looks like a lot right now, but when we’re getting the quantities of people that come, you will not even believe how fast our shelves get empty,” said Joanie Perry, who manages and volunteers for the church pantry on Thursdays.
The pantry is currently helping to feed 250 to 300 individuals a week, about 75 of whom are children and 50 are seniors. The pantry is open 52 weeks a year on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Donations can be delivered to the church on Tuesdays and Thursdays weekly between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
For those who can’t come at those times, there is a tub by the church parking lot door to place donations and a “blessing box” at the church’s front entrance for anyone to take or add to.
“The amount of food that goes out every week is just incredible, so there’s a need,” Perry explained. “We’re very grateful to the community … Anything that they’re able to donate would be wonderful.”
The food pantry began as a small folding table holding a few non-perishable items in the church lounge. Since then, it’s grown into a multi-room operation with a coffee ministry, where pantry guests can join the church volunteers and others for coffee, refreshments and conversation.
“There’s always room at the table in this church,” Perry noted.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to volunteer here,” added Perry’s husband Ray, who also manages and volunteers for the pantry on Thursdays. “We take as much out of it as our clients do.”
For questions about the food drive, call the First Baptist Church of Moorestown office at (856) 235-1180 or email fbcmfoodpantry25@gmail.com.
