By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
The Pantry is looking for a builder who would be willing to help with an expansion project to provide more space for Oxford’s food bank.
For more than 40 years, The Pantry has provided food every week to families and individuals who need a helping hand. Dozens of volunteers from area churches, RSVP and other groups work each week in organizing the shelves and helping to serve people who come seeking assistance.
The Pantry relies heavily on donations – in the form of food donations and cash donations – to continue to provide food for those facing food insecurity in the Oxford and Lafayette County community.
Your support, especially during the past two years of the pandemic, has been generous, to say the least,” said Pantry Board Chairperson Ann G. O’Dell in a letter sent recently to past donors. “You have funded The Pantry all these 40 years with individual and group donations, allowing us to increase our offerings to clients.”
Due to its growth in both the number of people it serves weekly and its connections with food brokers that offer an increasing amount of frozen and refrigerated food, The Pantry is in need of additional space to add a walk-in freezer and refrigerator, as well as renovate its loading dock to make it more convenient for large trucks.
Thanks to monetary donations, Pantry organizers say they have the necessary funding for the renovations and are now tasked with finding a contractor to be part of the expansion project.
Builders and contractors interested in being a part of the expansion project for The Pantry should send an email to Guthrie Abbott at gtabbott@maxxsouth.net or Stuart Povall at spovall@developdesignstuio.com.
