• Hunger
• Difficult financial choices
• Unforeseen financial setbacks
• Underemployment - a situation in which individuals find it necessary to work in low-paying or low-skill jobs

Happy Springtime Pantry Supporters!
We are starting to see more people coming into Thunder Mountain from the community looking for food from the pantry.  If you see someone looking for the pantry on Sunday morning, please assist them.  We’re starting to see people wandering in on Sundays and weekdays.

We gave out 43 bags in the month of March which is close to double January or February. This count does not include our “Outreach bags”(14) or “Community Connect” bags (10) given out. We saw 65 people throughout March in various formats and we estimate to have helped feed 168 people when including families.A great story from Community Connect in the month of March is that a Huachuca City bus driver took one of our bags so she could give food to residents riding her bus route. Her personal adage was “No one leaves our bus hungry.” Thank you God, for this woman’s heart and desire to help those who have less. Let your light and love shine through her.We would like to use the rest of this letter to shine a spotlight on the volunteers of the pantry, so we can introduce any unknown volunteers and thank all the volunteers and staff that make the pantry work.

Daniele Haro took the lead on the MOPS service project this month and filled the 10 community connect bags. Holly is our pantry coordinator. She organizes and directs the whole pantry operation, making the important decisions. Carol Frazeur is our pantry host coordinator. She organizes the schedule of which host serves what day. Pantry Hosts are Julie, Carol, Tammy, and Carol. They are there to give out bags at set times during the week. Deborah does our inventory and 3rd Sunday vegetable cart. Danielle and Nicole also do inventory and shopping for our pantry. Nicole and Kris represent us at Community Connect giving out bags and information about our pantry. Kris is also our Good Neighbor Alliance liaison. Bill makes sure our “to-go” bags are made and stocked weekly. Julie writes the monthly newsletter and keeps a tally of everything going out for our metrics. Nancy and Colleen make and distribute outreach community bags of food to several different organizations in town. Diana organizes and puts together Good Neighbor Alliance “move out” boxes and helps out the 3rd Sunday vegetable cart. Patty is our ambassador to the Golden Acres community and helps with 3rd Sunday vegetables. Kristal and Savannah are our ministry support. They take phone calls, direct people to our pantry, give out to-bags during off hours, and much more. Rebecca helps us out with all the admin work that needs to be done.

It takes a lot of love and effort to keep our pantry running. Thank you to everyone of you who gives of your time. Thank you for being good stewards of your gifts. You are appreciated!

 “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10
 Blessings,

Julie Pedersen
Pantry Volunteer