St. Vincent De Paul Food and Clothing Pantry in Hardin to open Nov. 9

The St. Vincent Depaul Food Pantry’s (SVDFP) volunteers explained to the St. Louis Area Food Bank customers that on Oct. 6 the food truck would be arriving on the first Wednesday of November like usual.

Instead, it was told to folks that they should plan to visit the new food and clothing pantry, located at 105 French Street in Hardin (across from Dollar General), on Wednesday, Nov. 10, or Thursday, Nov. 11, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

There is a new phone number for the new pantry and it is 618-576-2500, if people would like to call for more information. The pantry will have volunteers on site Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

On Tuesday, the volunteers will receive food and they will be stocking shelves. On Wednesday and Thursday, the pantry will be open to customers from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

“We would like to remind our clientele, including proxy clients, that they will have to re-enroll in the program. If they cannot make it to the pantry because of disability, volunteers from St. Vincent de Paul will be glad to make a home visit to re-enroll them,” Secretary of SVDFP, Kathy Rogers, said. “Remember that only residents of Calhoun County are eligible for these services. Those from outside the county will receive food one time and then we will refer them to a food pantry in their area.”

“We know many people have been anxiously waiting for us to open to donate clothing. It seems that, during lockdown, closet cleaning became a popular indoor sport for many women. We are now ready to receive clean, gently used clothing. To make an appointment, call 618-576-2500. And, please, no clothing from smoking households. Winter clothing is our current priority,” Clothing Pantry Coordinator Kim Ringhausen said.

“We want to acknowledge Bobby Mulkins and the crew from Bizaillion company for volunteering their work in tearing off and replacing the soffit, guttering and fascia and replacing with new,” Jim Franke, board member of SVDFP, said.
After the SVDFP did their updates, they found out a new roof was needed and the roof was paid for by an anonymous donor.

“We humbly thank the anonymous donor who volunteered to pay over $10,700 for the new roof. They called three days after we posted our dilemma on FaceBook. We continue to be incredibly grateful for all the support the community has given in contributions, goods and services, time and labor, and monies,” Brad Vacca, Board President said.

“We are thrilled with community members like Ron and Janet Tillotson and other anonymous donors who are gifting monthly as well as Ben and Natalie Vacca, Chris Nichols and a few other anonymous donors for their contributions in excess of $10,000,” Jim Twichell and President Emeritus said.

“In addition to our repeat donors, we are grateful for those new contributors, Eric and Melissa Tepen, Brett and Sue Pohlman and Elaine Titus whose generosity made it possible to stock our pantry with the operational essentials to get us up and running. We appreciate all our gifts, large and small, and are certainly grateful for all those who have answered God’s calling to serve!” Vice President Nikki Simon said.

“We started this journey by accepting a $5000 challenge grant from the St. Louis Area Food Bank and buying a building on contract for deed using the grant dollars as down payment. We really didn’t know all that we would have to do to turn a storage building into a food and clothing pantry,” Rogers said. “We had no idea how long it would take us. We just knew that God was providing us with an opportunity to serve. Challenge after challenge the community has been there backing this project. We could not be more grateful for their support.”

If you wish to volunteer in either the food or clothing pantry, call Robin Hillen at 618-535-3834.