Help your neighbors by donating these items to a local food pantry
Common donations to food pantries often include canned goods, bags of rice and other nonperishable items.
Yet, when a family faces a crisis, their daily needs go beyond food. They can lack ways to prepare meals they receive from pantries, not to mention hygiene items.
Whether it’s household cleaning supplies, pots and pans, or a box of pads, non-food donations help people in need live healthier and happier lives.
“It’s just people don’t think about stuff like that. I mean, everybody needs toilet paper,” said Justin Bates, marketing and development director at the River Valley Regional Food Bank.
Items like diapers, kitchenware and hygiene kits can help women and children escaping domestic violence.
“If somebody donated some Pampers, we could give these out to a pantry that helps women, like a crisis intervention center,” Bates said.
Especially for individuals living in hotels, donations such as new hot plates, electric tea kettles and microwaves make preparing food easier.
“If you are living in one of the hotels over here … you might not have anything other than an outlet,” Bates said. “Let’s say you get a pasta kit … [you] can’t eat ramen noodles without it being warmed up.”
For individuals looking to donate, Bates recommends contacting the food bank, unless a local food pantry has a shared a specific need.
“Sometimes pantries don’t have room to store stuff … We can store [donations] and identify a pantry that might need it,” Bates said. He added that items do not have to be in bulk, but they should be new and unused.
For more information on donating to the food bank, call 479-785-0582.
One of the food bank’s partner food pantries is Helping Hand, a nonprofit based out of Grand Avenue Baptist Church.
The nonprofit’s facility houses a clothing closet and a warehouse to store donations, including furniture. Volunteers are currently expanding the second floor of the warehouse to create additional storage for clothing.
Bob Lever, executive director of Helping Hand, requested donations of bedding, household items, quality furniture and men’s and women’s clothing without holes or stains.
Describing potential needs, Lever said, “We’ve have some that come through that were in bed bug-infested situations, and they had to get rid of everything.”
Donations to Helping Hand can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3901 Grand Ave.
The Community Services Clearing House, which seeks to alleviate hunger in the River Valley and Oklahoma, also is seeking non-food donations.
“One thing that our clients like to get is toilet paper and paper towels, laundry detergent and dish soap,” Aubrey Severe, office manager for the Community Services Clearinghouse, said.
The clearinghouse accepts donations from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at 4420 Wheeler Ave.
By donating non-food items to local organizations, community members can offer more holistic help to their neighbors.
“It just ties the mission together of making sure people are not only fed, but have a better quality of life,” Bates said.
Catherine Nolte is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. She can be reached at [email protected].
