(Photo credit, Sanpete Pantry)
MOUNT PLEASANT, UT — The Sanpete Pantry might close soon.
This is an organization that provides emergency food to about 300 families every month. Workers at the pantry say they do not have enough funding to survive past the end of the year.
Sean Kearney is a volunteer at the pantry. He told KSL Newsradio that their fundraising has dropped to about half of what they need for their current expenses. What they need is from $50 to $70 thousand dollars.
“The fifty to seventy thousand allows us to hire a replacement pantry director, ” Kearney said. “We can’t afford to pay people.”
The only pantry to serve Sanpete County, the Sanpete Pantry typically receives revenue sources from a cardboard collection initiative. They are also self-funded by their own volunteer-driven initiative, Drive4Food.
“We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to be able to stay open.
“But if we do stay open, I just don’t know how we can do it,” Kearny said.
The director of the pantry died in May, and her position has not yet been filled. Pantry staff and volunteers have asked the Sanpete County Commission for up to $75,000 to cover their operating expenses.
Sanpete County government provides the pantry with a building and also pays the pantry’s utility bills. A representative from Sanpete County says they’ve asked for additional funding in next year’s budget.
(Dan Bammes contributed to this report.)