Bismarck Food Pantry reorganizes

These new board members are part of a reorganized food pantry.  The Food Pantry Director, James Adams, died in early December, after a lengthy illness. James and his wife Margaret dedicated many years to the work of the pantry. Along with the Adams, there have been many faithful workers through the years. The Willhelms, Millers, Parks, Williams, Bishop, and Sterlin & Julie Adams are just a few of them.  Without them, the pantry would have been unable to stay open and meet the needs of our surrounding communities.

Bismarck Church of God Food Pantry has been serving people in need since the 1990s.  It was started because of Pastor, Robert Adam’s vision.  Over the years the pantry has served thousands of people.  In 2008 alone they served more than , families and more than 2,300 people.  They are seeing an increase in need.  In the first quarter of 2008 they served 190 families, in the fourth quarter that number grew to 396.  They were also able to hand out special baskets in December for Christmas.  The generosity of a local Bismarck family, who do not attend their church, enabled them to hand out 60 turkeys.  The pantry contributed chickens and some hams and added 20 other items for a special holiday meal.  They were able to help almost 90 families in this special time of the year.

The new Food Pantry Director is Sterlin Adams, the son of James and Margaret Adams.  Mrs. Jaco also is serving as the Secretary-Treasurer in addition to her board position.  They have several regular new workers who have signed on to help in this worthwhile effort.  They include the Chapmans and Melvin Jaco and others volunteer when there is a need.

They are a 501-C-3 organization and donations to the pantry are tax deductible.  They obtain their funding from church contributions, grants, fund raising activities and private donors. They are committed to continuing in this ministry to help anyone who comes to the pantry. They accept referrals from East Missouri Action Agency and are a distributor for the USDA-TEPAP program, which used to be referred to as the Commodity program.  For that program certain income guidelines must be met.

They are in the process of redoing the pantry, so they can better utilize the space to store more food and to better serve clients.

The Food Pantry is open every Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and they also fill emergency food orders.

For more information please contact Lois Jaco at 573-562-7662, Pastor Robert Adams at 573-562-7095 or the church at 573-734-6468.