Community comes together to fight hunger

A food pantry is a common way a community can help assist needy families. These pantries rely on food donations and money from individuals, organizations and businesses. One of the best ways to donate to the Morgan Food Pantry is through a food drive. From Scouting for Food (a Boy Scouts of America food drive) to a local church group getting together, food and money can be gathered and given to the pantry.

The Morgan County Food Pantry Director Cindy McKee said, “I just have a heart for this. I grew up with my mother doing this in her church, so I’m just channeling my mother.”

The Morgan County Food Pantry is a non-profit organization that provides food assistance to individuals and families in need in Morgan County. It accepts donations of non-perishable food items to help support its operations. The pantry distributes these food donations to those who meet their eligibility requirements. The Morgan County Food Pantry also partners with other local organizations to provide additional resources to those in need. 

The food pantry used to be in the Morgan City building until 2021, when they needed to move out of the basement. McKee was contacted by the Chamber of Commerce and worked with her two pastors at Morgan Grace to use their secondary space as the new pantry. “We currently pay half of the rent, and the other half is paid by a local stake center,” said McKee.

The pantry also puts together holiday meals for those in need. These meals include Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. “We live to give back when we can,” said McKee.

“We have seen a consistent increase with people coming each week,” she said. McKee says she has to give the Utah Food Bank a monthly report. These numbers indicate that about 45 to 50 new people have been in need each month consistently since September. “That means we see one to two new people every week,” she said. “This is probably due to the economy; people can either afford housing or food.”

On Feb. 16, the pantry posted a donation that was brought over by a local scout troop. The caption read, “God bless the community scout troop!”

“We serve about 35 youth, and most of them participated in the food drive,” said John Bearnson, leader of the Mountain Green Community BSA Scout Troop. Bearnson says the troop serves kids from Morgan, Mountain Green and Huntsville, so it has kids from both Morgan and Ogden valleys.

Bearnson explained that the troop’s recent food drive, Scouting for Food, started when they passed out bags to the community on Feb. 1 as part of their troop meeting. “Each kid filled about five bags of food, and we filled the bed of my truck with them.” After gathering the bags on Feb. 14, Bearnson took the food donations to the Morgan County Food Pantry.

“As a reward, the boys were treated to a night at a local trampoline park,” said Bearnson. “The owner donated some time at a nice discount.”

Another Scouting for Food Drive was recently held at the Young Automotive Group in Morgan. 

The Food Pantry also has a mobile truck that visits one Tuesday a month that comes from Salt Lake City. This truck brings in fresh items such as milk and eggs. “I never know what they will bring,” said McKee. She said the pantry also provides a delivery service for those who are homebound or have to work during these monthly deliveries. “There are tons of volunteers who always come to help out.”

“We also get donations from the Warrior Rizen Ranch,” said McKee. “They recently brought in beef and 17 dozen eggs. We appreciate the community, and everyone is so generous.”

The pantry maintains a list of current needs that it can give to those who want to donate. This list currently contains hot cereal (oats), cold cereal, granulated sugar, shelf-stable milk, evaporated milk, pancake mix, syrup, mustard, mayo, salad dressings, ramen noodles, spaghetti noodles, jams, jellies, instant potatoes, spices, salt and pepper.

“We are always in need of paper goods like toilet paper and paper towels,” said McKee.

To learn more about ways to help the Morgan Food Pantry, contact McKee at 801-829-8533 or visit its Facebook page. After collecting food donations, (the pantry is not equipped to take clothing or toys), take them to the pantry located at 49 W. 150 North, Morgan.