• 400 boxes available, no income qualifications required

Wyoming’s Mobile Food Pantry, which comes to Afton once a year, is returning Friday, May 23 in the south parking lot of Star Valley High School. Sponsored by the Afton Food Pantry, the mobile pantry brings food for 400 families in a drive-through system. Food disbursements begin at 11 and will continue until the food is gone, or until 1 p.m., whichever comes first.

“We are so excited to host this event again,” said Afton Food Pantry President Sierra Mitchell during an interview on SVI Radio. “This is done by the Afton Food Pantry in partnership with the Food Bank of Wyoming. Every year, we are given a semi-load of food with the intention to help families during this time of the year.” The Afton Food Pantry is fully staffed for this event by  members of the SVHS Football Team.

RELATED: SIERRA MITCHELL MOBILE FOOD PANTRY DETAILS –

According to Mitchell, the mobile pantry brings 400 boxes of food that include meat or frozen items, perishable foods and a lot of fresh produce.  “We need people to show up,” said Mitchell. “We want 400 families to come.” There are no income qualifications to receive the food. Mitchell only needs families who will use and enjoy the extra food.

If Mitchell and her team of volunteers are unable to place all the food provided, the Food Bank of Wyoming will choose to take the food normally gifted to Lincoln County to another location in Wyoming. Mitchell stressed the importance of maintaining Lincoln County’s access to this service by having families use all the food.

Family representatives who are homebound or are unable to pick up their own box can ask a friend or neighbor to pick it up for them. Volunteers only need the name, age and address of the box recipient.

Patrons are being asked to approach the south parking lot from the north at Kennington Burton Lane near Star Valley Middle School and line up along Warrior Way. In the past, the line of cars has entered the school parking lot from the south, passing Burger King. This year, however, the road past Burger King will be blocked. This route aims to keep cars off the highway during the disbursement period. Out of courtesy for local residents, patrons are encouraged to pull to the side of the road as they wait in line.

“The mobile pantry for our community costs roughly $4,000,” said Mitchell. “Luckily, the Food Bank of Wyoming has generous donors. This food pantry comes to us at no cost, which is super incredible. The minute the food hits the ground at the high school, it becomes property of the Afton Food Pantry.”  As the Afton facility is not equipped to store excessive amounts of fresh produce, it would cause significant storage problems if the food is not completely disbursed on Friday. “We really need families to show up. It’s such a generous gift from the Food Bank of Wyoming. This is covered by personal and private donations and gifted to us for free as long as we do all the work.”

The number of families in Star Valley facing food insecurity is rising. With the cost of groceries continually increasing, “41 percent of the people we serve are 60 and older.” The second highest age group of patrons to the food banks consists of children age 0-18. “Those are staggering numbers for us. We also have over 30 percent of our patrons in camp trailers around here, and that’s just in the upper valley. Thayne and Alpine are currently serving higher numbers than we are. Throughout the valley, we are serving 100-140 families a week between all three food pantries. Alpine is currently seeing the greatest number of patrons coming their way.”

This time of year leaves the pantries with fewer volunteers. “Summer is when we lose our volunteer workforce. Hunger doesn’t stop just because the sun came out in Star Valley.”

Community members 16 and older who are able to commit 2.5 hours on a Thursday evening can visit aftonfoodpantry.com to sign up as a volunteer. “We are doing well with food and monetary donations, but we need volunteers to get us through the summer.” School clubs and organizations offer plenty of staffing volunteers during the school year, but “we always run into hiccups this time of year with not enough volunteer staff to open the doors.”

Mitchell is extremely grateful for the continuing support of the community through donations and volunteer staffing. “I want to stress how greatly appreciative we are of all donations, whether it’s the food, the money to buy the food, or the volunteers.”