Anonymous donor gives MSM a ton of potatoes

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 04 December 2012 18:37

Lavonne Carrington (left), director of Main Street Ministries in Hillsboro; Leah Rose, food bank director; and Dale Nuss, MSM board chairman, unload an anonymous donation of one ton of potatoes Wednesday. Two-hundred 10-pound bags were transported to the facility by Nuss driving a forklift.

The food bank at Main Street Ministries received an anonymous donation of potatoes.

Dale Nuss, chairman of the Main Street board, delivered the ton of potatoes using a forklift as Leah Rose, food bank director, and Lavonne Carrington, director, looked on.

The gift of potatoes was a welcome sight, Rose said.

“Our (food) shelves are OK this week,” she said, “but we have reached our spending limit as far as making purchases to fill in the gaps.”

Rose said they are having to rely solely on donations for the rest of the year.

Although canned goods are wonderful contribution, she said, they are in need of “box” foods too.

“We also need things like Hamburger Helper, cereals, peanut butter, tuna, macaroni & cheese,” she said.

As for meats, the food bank has frozen ground beef that comes in when ranchers and farmers donate a cow, Rose said, or when hunters give venison.

Even though the food bank would like to see turkeys for the holiday season, they are also grateful for keeping the freezers full.

In addition to serving sojourners at Main Street Ministries, Rose said, they also have families throughout Marion County.

“We see families from Burns, Lost Springs and Ramona,” she said.

On a slow month, the food bank will see about 40 families and in November and December, the number of families can climb as high as 120 to 150.

“Forty families in a month is our low end,” Rose said, “and how much is given depends on the size of the family.”

For example, she said they might give one bag with eight to 10 canned goods and a boxed bag filled with cereals, pancake mix and macaroni and cheese.

“This isn’t going to last a family for a month. It is one supplement,” she said.

Carrington said they also handle the commodity distribution, which used to be handled by Hillsboro Senior Center.

“About five times a year,” she said, “Dale and I go to Council Grove to pick up commodities.”

Regarding the potatoes, Nuss said he was contacted by an independent third party and everything was done by that person.

“The donor contacted Vogt’s Grocery and ordered the potatoes and brought us cash.

“It was about as anonymous as a person can get,” Nuss said.

The food bank is open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

For more information, call Main Street Ministries at 620-947-3393 or stop by 415 S. Main, Hillsboro.