By SYDNEY KENT
Ossian’s Northern Wells Food Pantry will now be able to serve more families in the area thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
During the month of November, up to $5,000 in funds will be matched. The offer has come at a much-needed time.
Dr. Robert Honegger, one of the organizers of the pantry and the treasurer of the organization’s board, said funding has recently been down.
Phyllis Blake, chairman of the food pantry, said that there is often a line of people waiting outside of the door every second Saturday and fourth Tuesday of the month. The shelves were bare or barely filled last Friday.
Blake, along with volunteers from area churches, help those in need shop for food during open hours. While many food banks offer food items in boxes that are available to pick up, people are able to use shopping carts and make decisions about what to feed their family.
“It also helps to engage with someone better,” Honegger explained. “Sometimes there are spiritual needs as well.”
“It isn’t just handing out food and kicking them out of the door,” Blake added.
Honegger explained that the pantry originated in the Ossian Church of the Nazarene, led by the former Pastor of the church, Bob Miller. With the help of Community Harvest, residents in need could access food in totes, which needed to be put up and taken down each time.
Eleven years ago, area churches collaborated to create the Northern Wells Food Pantry to meet the needs of local citizens.
Honegger was recognized for his work with the pantry in 2017 when he won Ossian’s Lance Hunter Humanitarian Award.
Blake said the pantry is open two times a month — from 9 to 11 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month and from 9 to 11 a.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m. once monthly. The pantry is located on Lafever Street a half-block west of Jefferson Street and serves residents south of 224 to the Allen County line.
Anyone who would like to make a donation may mail checks to the Northern Wells Food Pantry at PO Box 193, Ossian, IN 46777.
sydney@news-banner.com
