Greetings to our Friends of the Hobart Food Pantry,

As Spring turns into Summer, I would like to thank all our community once again for your generous support of the Hobart Food Pantry. Without your support and donations, we would not be able to continue serving our families in need. For the Easter holiday, we were able to provide food packages for 180 families, which included a ham or turkey and other perishable and non-perishable items!

Exciting news for the Hobart Food Pantry – we will hold our first BINGO fundraiser on Saturday, June 7 at the Hobart Moose! The Hobart Moose is always very supportive of our food pantry with many donations throughout the years, plus they continue to support our school system and many other organizations in Hobart by allowing charity bingo events! We hope you will join us for our fundraiser! It is always a fun evening, and you might even get to yell – BINGO!!

In addition, we will again participate in the US Postal Service nationwide food drive on Saturday, May 10, to help support local food pantries across the country. We are fortunate to have the Hobart Post Office participate and collect food items from across our community for this event, which always helps us to restock our shelves until our next food drive which will be held in the Fall……

When the Hobart Kiwanis hold their annual food drive to support our pantry. This is our largest food drive of the year and helps to replenish our shelves with many items needed. We will need many volunteers, not only to sort and box up items received, but to drop off and pick up bags of food that are generously donated! Watch here for more information to be posted later!

In addition to these two larger food drives, we also want to recognize the many food drives that churches, organizations and businesses hold throughout the year, as well as the School City of Hobart and all their assistance with classroom food drives. We also receive many food donations from local businesses such as Strack and VanTil, Avalon Manor, Marilyn’s Bakery and Gordon’s Food Service, in addition to restaurants such as Long Horn and Red Lobster! Thank you so very much!

ATTENTION GARDNERS AND LOCAL FARMERS: If you should have a surplus of “garden goodies” this summer and you aren’t sure what to do with these extras, please consider donating to the Hobart Food Pantry. Our families always appreciate when we can provide them with fresh produce and vegetables!

We are now serving approximately 180 families on a weekly basis.  We distribute to our families in need every week of the year, solely with volunteer labor.  During the holidays, we serve 250+ families.  Besides the non-perishable donations of food, it takes over $12,000 a month to keep the Pantry running smoothly.  With the increase in food prices, our operating costs have increased dramatically over the past couple of years. With monetary donations we purchase the milk, eggs and meat, plus personal care items needed for our families.  These are items not typically donated to us.  With your kindness and donations, we can continue to serve those that need assistance. 

We would like to thank you for your continued support.  If you are not a donor, we are asking you to get involved by donating to the Hobart Food Pantry by volunteering or donating food (we are always in need!) or through a monetary donation. We have a PayPal link on our website (www.hobartfoodpantry.org) or you can mail a check to the Hobart Food Pantry, P.O. Box 394, Hobart, IN  46342. Any amount is appreciated!

 Sincerely,

Cathy Jackson, Executive Director