The Mission Community Food Pantry officially opened its doors for service to the community on Tuesday, October 22, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mission, Kansas. There was a brief grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting sponsored by the Northeast Johnson County Chamber of Commerce. Speakers included Mission Mayor Ron Appletoft, Pantry Director Suzie Gibbs, and Pastor Mark Schulz, Senior Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church.

The Mission Community Food Pantry became a reality through the commitment of a number of people who share in the desire to serve others in need. Those serving on the Pantry team are Suzie Gibbs, Rhonda Synovec, Lynn Kring, Jon Lomshek, Steve Anderson, Cori Hastings, Cathy Casey, Danny Smith, and Arcie Rothrock.

The Pantry has been blessed with both food and monetary donations from Trinity members, community members, business support, and our partnership with Harvesters – The Community Food Network. We have also been blessed with amazing volunteers who have given of their time to prepare food for distribution and serve those who came to our first opening.

We will be serving on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month from 4-7pm. The pantry will be closed on Thanksgiving (November 26) and Christmas Eve (December 24). We will help support holiday food baskets given to families from the Mission community at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

How can you help?

We are working on a volunteer needs list, schedule and digital sign up to be released soon. Here are just a few of the ways you can be involved

  1. Prepare bags/boxes of food for distribution on Wednesday evenings prior to service beginning at 5pm.
  2. Unload items from Harvester’s delivery and prepare boxes and bags to be given at distribution.
  3. Distribute Food Items from 4–7pm: You can prepare before and stay to serve, or just serve during distribution. You will also help return items to the pantry and clean up. Please arrival at 3:30pm or when you are available.
  4. Parking Lot Attendants: Help direct traffic in and out of the parking lot on days of distribution.
  5. Monetary donations: You may give online or send a check with “Pantry” designated in the memo section. These funds will be used for bulk food purchases and other pantry needs at a large discount from Harvesters. We are also able to take advantage of many free items given by Harvesters as well.

At this time, we are not asking for donated food. In the future, we will do targeted food drives for the items we need most.