Pantry to close during relocation

PERU- The Servants Heart Food Pantry will close on February 20 and reopen on March 3, when they celebrate an open house at their new location inside the former Peru Elementary School. On February 18, prior to closing for relocation, there will be a large food distribution to help ease the burden of moving.
“This is such a great thing for the pantry and all our users,” noted Brenda Swan, volunteer at the pantry.

Swan noted that the reason for the move was two-fold; “We've been running out of space over the last couple years and this will also provide ease of access for everyone who uses the pantry. We'll be located on the ground floor in the former teacher's lounge, making us much more accessible for everyone, especially our elderly and disabled clients.”

As for the terms of the lease, Nick Waugh, President of Friends of Peru Elementary, stated, “As it stands now, they will just pay a flat rate for the year and in return will get a room in which they can store their food, including a refrigerator and a couple freezers. Plus they'll have a place to conduct their regular distributions.”

Servants Heart is planning an open house at their new location for March 3, when they will have the Good Shepherd Food Mobile on hand from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. for all other community pantry clients to come and take advantage.
Swan noted that the majority of their clientèle consists of the elderly on fixed incomes, but she is seeing more and more two-parent working families coming in since they don't qualify for any other assistance. A classic case of the working family making too little to feed their families, but too much and don't fall within the mandated guidelines.

As it stands right now, a four-person household qualifies for Women Infant Children (WIC) assistance if they earn less than $41,348 per year, $3,446 per month or $796 weekly. For a family with two working parents, these numbers figure to one parent making just a little over $10 per hour.

Servants Heart Food Pantry will be open today and tomorrow from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and then again on Saturday for their large distribution before closing. For more information or if you have questions, contact Brenda Swan at 562-7167.