Funds sought for Albion food pantry

An Albion resident is raising funds for the food pantry there, with the hope that the pantry can be better stocked to fit overall dietary needs.

Ashley Tetzlaff, who moved with her husband and two daughters from Pullman to Albion two months ago, used money from her own pocket last month to help bring more of a variety of foods to the pantry for the families and individuals served.

“My husband and I made a commitment when we were first married to set aside a certain amount of money each month to give away,” she said. “I actually used two months worth of money set aside, but obviously I can’t do that every month.”

Tetzlaff has created a GoFundMe page in order to raise funds to be able to go to the grocery store each month and buy additional items for supplementing the supply there.

“Even if I raise it all at once, I’ll set it aside to use about $300 a month,” she said.

What she buys will depend on the items already donated. Food pantry manager Starr Cathey said the items donated vary from month-to-month.

“We never know what we’re getting,” Cathey said.

Cathey also said that being able to have more of a variety will be good for the people who receive food from the pantry.

“Especially with more nutritional items,” she said.

Cathey and Tetzlaff both said that of the donations the pantry does receive, many of those items are expired.

“We get a lot of donated, expired food,” Cathey said, noting that those items are set aside in a separate section. “People tend to take it anyway at their own risk.”

Tetzlaff said she was surprised by this when she first became involved with the food pantry.

“It was kind of upsetting to me that they were getting donations but they’re all a month or a couple months past edible,” she said. “Even if people are struggling financially, they deserve non-expired food.”

Tetzlaff said she also feels that everyone deserves to be able to have a variety of food in their diets.

“Anything is great, but I wouldn’t like to eat that all the time,” she said, noting that the pantry has a lot of cereals, beans and rice. “It’s doable, but it’s not the best thing in life.”

When Tetzlaff made the trip to Costco last month with $250 and coupons in hand to purchase items to donate, she was able to purchase 120 individually packaged string cheese items, 70 cans of juice, 90 packages of Emergen-C powder, 196 granola breakfast bars and cookies, 160 pouches of fruit snacks, seven boxes of pancake mix, 10 containers of syrup, 18 jars of jelly, 35 jars of yogurt, one bag of cutie oranges and 52 packets of instant oatmeal. She wrote on the GoFundMe page that she is hoping to stock up the meat supply as well as the dairy supply this month.

She is hoping to see more donations come in. She said that about $200 has been raised so far, but many of those donations came from family members and friends.

“It’d be great if we can get a lot of the communities involved in Whitman County,” Tetzlaff said. “It’s a great idea, but unless other people get involved, it won’t go anywhere.”

Cathey said the food pantry can always accept donations.

“We’re always willing to take donations,” she said. “Not just money, but food also.”

Items can be donated to the Albion Food Pantry at the town hall in Albion or to the Albion Food Pantry account at Umpqua Bank in Pullman. To donate to Tetzlaff’s GoFundMe fundraiser, go to http://www.gofundme.com/6ep8uqm4.