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SLIPPERY ROCK — The Feed My Sheep Food Pantry now has more room to operate, thanks to an addition to its building.
Carol Lambert, pantry coordinator, said the addition was necessary due to a lack of space.
“We were stumbling over each other. We needed more room,” Lambert said.
The 384-square-foot addition cost around $30,000. It was paid for with the pantry's savings as well as monetary and material donations.
Prior to the addition, the building was 1,056 square feet.
The pantry was closed from April 21 to May 8 during construction. Despite the closure, Lambert said there were not many concerns about client access.
“We gave them warning, two months in advance,” Lambert said.
The new addition serves as the pantry's office. A wall separating the old office and the food storage area was torn down.
Chip Euall of Butler was the contractor.
Euall teaches a class at a trade school and he got some of his students to build and put the walls up. An electronics teacher at the school got his students to do the addition's wiring.
With the addition, the pantry chose to change to a “shop through” format. Prior to this, volunteers filled bags for clients.
With the new format, each client who comes in will get an escort. The client will pick out what food they want and the escort will make sure that the client does not take more than the pantry allows.
“I had advocated for it for years,” Lambert said.
She said that the new format allows clients to pick and choose what they want rather than have a bag filled for them. Also, some seniors who come in often do not eat as much as they are given.
“I think it will save us money (on supplies) in the long run,” Lambert said.
Currently, the pantry serves around 250 families each month. In 2003, the pantry served 150 clients.
The pantry was founded in Harrisville in 1982. It has been at its current location in Slippery Rock Park since 1990.
