Keep Hope Alive: Support West End Food Pantry

Hello. My name is Karena Thek and I started the West End Food Pantry in 2015. I saw so many of our neighbors struggling to survive; living paycheck to paycheck and worrying about how they would pay bills plus buy groceries. I also watched so much unused or "expired" food being discarded daily. So my brilliant idea was to combine the use of the old Eldred Elementary School plus volunteers and food donations to help those in need!

In November of 2015, we fed 37 families from a closet here in Kunkletown, PA. Today, we feed an average of 700 families each month. My little idea turned into a budget of approximately $60,000 per year which includes rent, insurance, box truck expense, pest control, soup kitchen supplies, diapers for babies, feminine products for women and bags, bags and more bags. We cycle an average of 30,000-40,000 lbs of food through our pantry every 2 weeks. We count on hundreds of volunteers that come together for one basic mission: help those in need!

We see smiles, we hear gratitude, we witness tears and lose, we deal with stress and illnesses, and we try our hardest to give a tiny bit of hope in many situations that seem hopeless. Together we feel nothing is hopeless and with a little love, we have been able to impact thousands and thousands of people.

As we continue to work hard to provide free food to those in need, our time is limited and our energy depleted. We focus our efforts on our largest and only fundraiser of the year; our West End Fair food stand but we don't have a lot of time to raise additional needed funds to support our mission.

Thankfully, we remain all volunteers and we work hard to keep our budget low but we need your help. Please consider giving a bit to our cause, allowing us to continue to shine bright in our community. Your donation allows us to keep our truck on the road picking up donations, allowing a dry diaper on a baby or giving a senior the ability to get their prescribed medication! And BTW if you want to be part of our team, please send me an email.