This food pantry in Finley will help poor rural community
A group of Finley residents have a gift for people struggling to pay for food in their rural community.
A food pantry is opening its doors at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Finley Community Center for anyone in need.
More than two-thirds of the children attending classes in the Finley School District east of Kennewick receive free or reduced cost lunches, says the state. To qualify, their family has to be near or at the poverty line.
For those families needing more help, the nearest food bank is in Kennewick.
That can be a daunting trek for people with unreliable transportation, said Laurie Tufford, a member of the Finley satellite of the Kennewick Kiwanis Club.
Adding to 2nd Harvest mobile efforts
Tufford volunteered at the 2nd Harvest mobile food distribution in Finley and has seen the need first hand.
“Whenever we did the mobile distribution, they were packed. Lots and lots of people would come by,” she said. “It’s a mix of school-aged to the elderly.”
Plans for the pantry started to take shape last year after Nutrien presented their food solution program to Finley school counselor Sonya Bell. The agriculture company runs a fertilizer plant in the Finley area.
So several groups — Kiwanis Club members, Christian Life Fellowship church and the Finley Booster Club — teamed up with Bell and fellow counselor Rebekah Duty to apply for a $2,600 grant.
They combined the grant with help from 2nd Harvest to start the pantry but also they hope to continue occasional mobile distributions.
“We just don’t want to see that option go away,” Tufford said. “That’s why we stepped up as a district and as a community and started over again.”
The money will pay for storage bins, food thermometers and potentially freezers and refrigerators they will need for meat, she said.
The volunteers will pick up a plastic-wrapped pallet of food from the 2nd Harvest’s Pasco distribution center and bring it to Finley. For now, the food will include dry goods and produce.
Anyone looking to make a cash donation to the pantry can call the Finley Booster Club through the school district at 509-586-3217.
After Thursday’s opening, volunteers plan to run the pantry every second and fourth Thursday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the community center, at 222204 E. Game Farm Road.
Anyone can attend and no identification is required.
For now, the volunteers plan to do it through June, but if they receive enough support they will look at extending it longer.