A year ago, you could only walk through the empty doorway and framed up walls of the Eagle Food Pantry expansion as it was being built from the ground up by Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) employees, volunteers, and other contractors. During a recent open house event, pantry staff invited members of the community to walk through the same doorway into the completed, full-service pantry that has expanded its capacity to meet the growing need for food in the community.
“This pantry has been beneficial for not only the community, but our entire county,” said Joseph Beaudoin, manager of Eagle Food Pantry. “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of this pantry, and I am proud of the CAP staff who have helped it grow to what it is today.”
Eagle Food Pantry opened for the Parkers Lake community in June 2021. At its opening, CAP staff anticipated at least 800 families in the area needed pantry services. Today, the pantry serves more than 300 families, or nearly 1,000 individuals.
The new 2,760 square foot expansion broke ground shortly after the pantry’s opening to better serve the anticipated needs of the community. The expansion includes office spaces, a covered area for drive-thru service, a shopping area that provides participants the opportunity to select what they need for their families, freezer space for perishable items like meats, and a loading dock to accommodate large deliveries for the pantry.
For some participants, it can be hard to coordinate transportation to the pantry, or they may fall sick or do not feel comfortable shopping in the pantry, said Kathy Perry, coordinator of Eagle Food Pantry. Because of this, the pantry now also offers delivery services to its participants.
Those services were important in helping a participant family when they had COVID-19 and were quarantining at home, Perry said. Rather than missing their pantry box pick-up and going hungry, a CAP employee did a porch drop-off at the family’s home.
“We know how critical this food is for our participants, and our delivery service is an area where we have tried to fill the gap and meet the needs of children, their families, and seniors here in McCreary County,” Perry said. “We are doing everything we can to fight hunger and feed hope in our community. We all work together as a team to make it happen with God’s help.”
For more information about CAP’s programs or how to request services, call 1.866.270.4227 or visit christianapp.org.
