Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Rosalia Food Pantry reached the one-year anniversary of its re-opening with a distribution Sept. 18, the third Tuesday of the month, at the fellowship room of Community Baptist Church in Rosalia.
The Pantry closed in November 2016 before Pastor David Turner moved and new Pastor Rick Jones arrived.
Later, a joint effort came together with Fr. Michael Savelesky and Holy Rosary Parish, the Catholic church in Rosalia. They pay the cost of running Community Baptist’s refrigerator and freezer -–which were provided by Whitman County Council on Aging six years ago.
The Pantry re-opened last October – running each third Tuesday of the month, to align with the arrival of a truck from Second Harvest in Spokane with fresh produce. The Pantry serves varying numbers of Rosalia residents each month.
In August, 71 individuals were counted.
“It’s quite a number of families in this area that we serve,” said Becky Sessions, volunteer coordinator. “The number depends, month to month, what families are going through.”
Volunteers from the church and community run the distribution, a steady number of seven people with more in and out.
“We’d love to have 10 to 12 volunteers each time,” Sessions said.
Work begins the day before the third Tuesday when volunteers drive pickup trucks to Colfax to get what food is available at the Council on Aging and Human Services. Last time it was two pickup loads, sometimes it is just one. Food from the Colfax location includes whatever might be available – from the “Grocery Rescue” program which takes in food and other items four days per week, unsold but still good, the Farm to Food Bank program and more.
In Rosalia, at the church, tables are set up and bread, produce and other food is laid out. Meat is put in the freezers. With food unpacked and put out, Sessions then goes through and labels each item with how much volunteers are to give to each person, depending on how much is available that day.
Since produce arrives from Second Harvest the same day, it does not need to be refrigerated.
“We see a need here,” said Sessions, who moved to Rosalia from Spokane in 2008. “It’s our goal to keep (the Pantry) going. The community needs it.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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