Food pantry plans expansion of services

WASILLA — Like many local food pantries, the shelves at the newly christened Frontline Mission are a bit bare.

Thanksgiving tends to stretch pantries thin.

“We’ve been having people asking about Thanksgiving for a couple weeks now, trying to figure out what they’re going to do,” said Patti Pepperd, who volunteers at the pantry.

Frontline will take food donations but is leaving the coordination of Thanksgiving meal distribution to the Thanksgiving Blessing

Frontline Mission used to be just a food pantry under the umbrella of the Wasilla Lake Church of the Nazarene. For eight years they handed out food. Currently, they serve 60 to 90 families each week, providing 35 to 40 pounds of food to each.

This weekend, the effort officially renamed itself Frontline Mission at a barbeque at which Pastor Manoj Ingle explained their plans.

“What we were realizing as we were distributing the food is they’re so grateful for the food but they need more services,” Ingle said.

He said folks need a shower or a place to do laundry, help building a resume or doing their taxes. It would also be great, Ingle said, if the church could offer those it serves a place to sleep.

The hope is that Frontline Mission will be able to grow to help meet what is an all-too common need in the Valley.

“Last weekend we had a homeless person come here from Fairbanks. We wished we had a place for him to stay,” he said.

He shared a story of two families picking up food. Both families were about to be evicted and got to talking about it in the church. That’s when two other families they’d never met offered to take them in.

“When people come together, great things happen,” Ingle said.

The church will host a small Thanksgiving dinner but has big plans for Christmas. Ingle said they connected with families with a family member in prison and intend to provide each child a toy.

When someone goes to prison, he said, “families suffer. But it’s not their fault.”

The mission is planning a toy drive it’s just working to settle on a good place to hold it.

Meanwhile, anyone that wants to help can drop off food at the church — dry goods and canned food are particularly needed. Or, if you want to volunteer or think you can help in other ways, call 376-5439, Ext. 14.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

The Valley’s Thanksgiving Blessing, a yearly distribution of Thanksgiving meals with all the trimmings to needy families is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Folks who need them can pick up at six locations:

• Faith Bible Fellowship at 14159 W. Hollywood Rd.,

• Fellowship Lutheran Church at Mile 1.1, Petersville Road in Trapper Creek,

• Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at 501 Bogard Rd.,

• Real Life Church at 10697 E. Palmer-Wasilla Hwy.

• Upper Susitna senior Center, Mile 98.5, Parks Highway in Talkeetna

• Willow United Methodist Church at Mile 67.5, Parks Highway

The blessing is looking for volunteers, aluminum roasting pans, food and money — $10 will buy someone a turkey, $40 a whole dinner.

Specifically, the blessing needs yams, cranberry sauce, canned vegetables, dinner rolls, gravy mix, butter/margarine, pies and stuffing mix especially.

To volunteer in Wasilla, call 376-3522; in Willow, 495-6638; in Trapper Creek or Talkeetna, 733-2710; in Palmer, 745-5673, and in Big Lake, 892-8545.

Hope for Heroes Inc. also has set up donation boxes for a food and gift drive event at businesses around the Mat-Su Valley. To nominate a family for assistance, visit HopeForHeroesInc.com. Donation boxes to accept donations of non-perishable food and new, unwrapped gifts are at:

• Three Bears, Palmer

• Mocha Moose, Wasilla

• Verda’s Cakes and Things, Wasilla

• PJ’s Crafty Corner, Lakeside Center, Wasilla

• Hope For Heroes Inc., Lakeside Center, Wasilla

The group plans an Open House/Christmas Party from 2 to 4 p.m., Dec. 15 at its office in the Lakeside Center, 1451 E. Parks Hwy Suite B14, Wasilla.