The Wesley House Needs Help From The Community Restocking Its Pantry

Inflation has made the cost of groceries increase which in turn has left many families needing assistance. The Wesley House Community Center is needing the community's help in restocking its pantries to be able to continue to help those that are in need.

"So we've been short for a while now, and it's just we're not able to get called back up since we're giving out 300 to 400 food bags a week, we've just never caught back up. So we're short on pretty much everything," said Brandy Rea The Assistant Executive for The Wesley House.

Empty rows can be seen in the pantry of what once was continuously stocked. Rea says with inflation they have seen an increase in families that are needing assistance, more than they normally do.

"I think that more and more people need help than what we're used to. And the cost of all kinds of groceries has gone up. So families that have it typically come for assistance have started coming for assistance over the last few months. And it's just an accumulation of an increased need. It's kind of led to an increased long-term lack of resources for us and depleting our usual stock," stated Rea.

But local businesses like the Family Flea Market have stepped in to assist in collecting canned goods for The Wesley House.

Co-Owner Matt Elsworth stated, "We realize they're having a shortage right now. So we're asking our customers to bring in canned goods if they can. We give them a little bit of an incentive. We're giving them a five-dollar-off coupon if they bring at least three canned goods. So it helps you give a little we give a little back and it helps the community,"

Getting help from the community and local businesses, Rea says it shows just how much the community helps one another out.

"We can't help the community without the support of the community. So to me, we're just a vessel that's being used from the community's resources to get that help back out to the community," stated Rea.

If you would like to help out to restock the pantry Rea says they accept monetary donations or canned food donations at the Wesley house from Monday through Friday between 8 am and 5 pm.