New food bank set to open soon

There was a need in the community and no matter how busy their lives were, a group of Glenrock residents came together to see what they could do to put food on the plates of others.
The food bank in Glenrock closed earlier this year which left a lot of area residents in need. Along with the food bank closing, the Blessings in a Backpack program was also stopped, meaning some local children went without on the weekends.
“We wanted to do something for the community,” Glenrock Food Pantry Board Co-Director Melissa Hershley said. “There are people who need the food bank and we wanted to get it started again.”
Hershley contacted Deacon Leigh Earle at the Episcopal Church and between the two of them, more people joined in and started working on bringing a food bank back to Glenrock.
“This pantry is for the community, and is owned by the community,” Hershley said. “This is a close community and we want to take care of our own.”
A board of directors was formed, the necessary paperwork was filed and the Glenrock Food Pantry will host their first distribution Sept. 11.
The pantry is located at 506 W. Birch Street, Unit 15. The entrance is on the west end of the building next to the alleyway.
The group is planning on having twice-monthly distributions on the second and fourth Wednesday each month. Senior citizens and disabled residents will be served first from 1-3 p.m. while the general public will be served 4-7 p.m. the same day.
“We are planning on bringing the backpack program again to the area,” Hershley said of the Blessings in a Backpack program. “We’re working now on getting set up and organized for our first distribution. Once we have a routine we want to expand what we do.”
The board has also been working with the chamber and the Town of Glenrock which has been a blessing, according to Hershley.
“Both groups have donated funds to us and the town is letting us use the space for free,” she said.
Most of the food for the pantry will be coming from the Food Bank of the Rockies in Casper but private money or food donations are always accepted.
“There will be no income requirement at all to get food, we want to stress that,” Hershley said. “Everyone is welcome to our distributions the only requirement is that you live in the 82637 zip code.”
The Shoreliner is planning a foot race fundraiser with a 50/50 raffle to benefit the food bank, where runners will face off with a 100-yard dash, tickets sold will go to the runner of your choice.
Runners who win will be pulled with the winning name of the 50/50.
“The community has been so supportive,” Hershley said. “Superfoods has been doing the grocery rescue and the store has let us keep things there until our space is set up. They have been phenomenal with their support.”
If you are facing an emergency or can’t make it to a distribution the Glenrock Food Pantry Facebook page is the best way to contact the group.
“We’ll also have our phone numbers at the police department so they will also be able to contact us,” co-director Katie Faria said. “We want to make sure that anyone who needs help will be able to contact us.”