Scott Emergency Food Pantry coordinator Eunice Gagnon, left, and Scott United Methodist Church pastor Christopher White, received a $2,000 grant from the LaGrange County Community Foundation in February to support local food distribution for families in need.

Clothes and Food Basket, Scott Emergency Food Pantry receive assistance

Thanks to the generosity of many local donors, the LaGrange County Community Foundation  awarded two organizations a total of $10,936 in February as part of the foundation’s We Give Thanks matching program to support local food distribution.

Over the holidays in 2017, the LCCF Board of Directors offered to match local donations to the We Give Thanks campaign “dollar-for-dollar” up to a maximum match of $5,000. As in past campaigns, local donors, still deeply concerned about the welfare of families stepped up to the challenge.

Organizations who received grants this year include the Clothes and Food Basket in LaGrange for $8,936 and the Scott Emergency Food Pantry at the Scott United Methodist Church in Shipshewana for $2,000.

Open two days a week, the Clothes and Food Basket provides food, clothes and hygiene products to needy individuals in LaGrange County. They also operate the Christmas Bureau which provides assistance during the holidays. During the Clothes and Food Basket’s 2017 Christmas Bureau they served 369 clients and their families, assisting a total of 1,497 individuals. During that time they provided fresh fruit, towels, sheets, hats, gloves, undergarment, children’s toys for Christmas, and a ham or turkey.

The Scott Emergency Food Pantry provides additional assistance for county residents. The congregation operates the emergency food pantry to help the needs of those who have lost a job, been laid off, on sick leave, death of a spouse, etc. They offer non-perishable items and a voucher for milk, bread, eggs and a pound of hamburger. The pantry is open on Wednesday afternoons.