OLATHE, Kan. — KSHB 41 is joining Harvesters to Fill The Fridge and feed our community.
LEARN MORE | Fill the Fridge
Some of the food comes right from grocery stores in Kansas City-area neighborhoods.
New Hope Food Pantry in Olathe helped nearly 1,000 families last month.
“Our numbers are going up. There’s just so many more people coming right now,” said Caylon Umphrey, from New Hope Food Pantry. “It’s really about providing for the community from a compassion standpoint.”
Umphrey said the pantry sees an average of 45 families a day, up from 30 families a day just a few years ago.
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Branigan Pinney recently visited New Hope for the first time.
“Fruit, veggies, everything is just so high,” she said. “It’s been stressful — big time. Especially, you know, bills are going up, rent is going up; everything is going up.”
Umphrey said about a third of New Hope's food comes from Harvesters, and some of that comes right from nearby grocery stores.
“Even though it’s a Harvesters program, we go and pick it up and bring it right back because some of it may be food right out of their deli and needs to get out in the next day or two," Umphrey said.
The initiative is part of Harvesters’ Grocery Store Recovery program, which helps connect 140 agencies with at least 300 donors.
New Hope Food Pantry picks up from multiple stores every week.
“It’s finding a home, it’s serving a need, but it’s also not going into a landfill,” Umphrey said. “We get a lot of milk, a lot of dairy, tons of yogurt. We fill up a refrigerator every day, and then we try to give that out. Whatever comes in that day goes out to all those clients that are coming in that day. Our goal is to have it gone by our last client.”
To learn more about Fill the Fridge or to donate, click here.
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