On Halloween night, members of the Alma Student Council and National Honors Society went trick-or-treating to kick off the Alma food drive for the Buffalo County Food Pantry. The students went door-to-door through Alma, Cochrane, and Fountain City. However, instead of asking for candy, the members asked for non-perishables and canned goods for the pantry.
Student Council members decorated boxes and placed them throughout the school in hopes that more donations could be gathered throughout the week of November 13th–17th. Grades 7–12 have their own separate boxes for a donation contest. On November 17th, the grade with the most in their box, decided by weight, will get an ice cream party. This is a fun way for school students and staff can help out their community and others.
The primary role of a food pantry is to store food donations and then pass them on to people experiencing hunger. Over 44 million people in the US face hunger. That is one in five children. There are millions of people in the US who don't have enough food to eat or don't have access to healthy food. Roughly 828 million people regularly go to bed hungry. That is 10 percent of the global population. Donating to food drives and pantries is a great way to provide service to others. Giving to your local food pantry is an easy way to help reduce food waste and help those in need.
The Buffalo County Food Pantry at St. John’s Lutheran Church has been up and running for over 30 years. Wayne Babros and his wife, Luann, have been managing the local pantry for around the last 10 years. Both Wayne and Luann do this to help with the food crisis issue by providing food distributions one day a month to those who are in low-income areas. The food pantry gives out as much meat as they have available, and to try to supplement they also use the donations of canned and boxed goods to help get people through the month.
Luann Babros states, “We don't want people to go without food. Sometimes people get threats that their electricity is going to be turned off and stuff like that, so they pay their bill, and then they don't have any money for food. We are also available in emergency situations. We take care of those people and help out wherever we can”.
There have been a couple of different places before St. John's Lutheran Church for the Buffalo County Food Pantry. When they made the addition to the fellowship hall at the church, they specifically made a storage area for the food pantry. Vern Martzke, former Alma High School superintendent, managed the food pantry while this addition was added on. He ran the food pantry for many years, and he was also very instrumental in helping his community and providing for others. Since his passing, Wayne and Luann have helped to carry forward his gift of generosity.
Wayne and Luann say the food pantry is very time-consuming but worth it. There should always be food on the table, and nobody should ever be starving. They say, "The best part about it is seeing the happiness and joy on the faces of those in need.” Wayne and Luann enjoy taking care of people and love getting paid in smiles.
Pictured above: Chloe Reed and Ashley Bartelt tick-or-treating for canned goods on Halloween night.