Lighthouse Foundation in Thanksgiving swing
Beginning this week, the Lighthouse Foundation food pantry’s shelves will be stocked with a plethora of foods associated with Thanksgiving, so clients can start getting their holiday meal ready early.
Joe Franciscus, food pantry director at the foundation, said the organization starts pushing its Thanksgiving distributions in the fall season, so the pantry can have plenty of options for turkey day.
“It can be anything from potatoes, mac and cheese, cranberry sauce, broth, stuffing,” Franciscus said of the donations the pantry is collecting. “We’re providing meals for them that they can create their own meal, and we have an awesome selection.”
Franciscus said the foundation’s food pantry is open four days a week throughout the year. While the type of food varies depending on the donations the organization receives, Franciscus said the pantry is designed to let clients get the food they want. The pantry also has a color-coded system organized by family size, giving them small, medium, large and extra large boxes to fill up.
The Thanksgiving distributions, which are hosted on the regular schedule at the Lighthouse Foundation, will work in the same way as the usual ones.
“We have it set up just as our usual shop-through model,” Franciscus said. “We have an opportunity for them to pick what they would like — we actually let them choose.”
One of the organizations supporting the Lighthouse Foundation’s food drive is the Butler Area Public Library, which is collecting food throughout the month to give to the foundation.
Library director Lori Hinderliter said the library typically hosts a donation drive around the fall and winter season and chooses items to collect based on community need.
“We've done some sort of drive yearly; we've collected socks, mittens and gloves last year,” Hinderliter said. “This year, I know there are many families who are going to be in need more than other times.”
Already, the library has garnered a number of donations, and Hinderliter said the collection box, located by the door in the library lobby, will be in place through Thanksgiving.
“We have done really well,” Hinderliter said. “We are fortunate that our community and patrons donate.”
Franciscus said the foundation typically gets a lot of food donations for the holidays, but he and the other administrators are pushing for donations of a certain object this time.
“It's something we haven't done in the past,” Franciscus said. “The people who are receiving the food, that's great, but it's mostly canned, so they might not have a can opener.”
The pantry has distributions from 1 to 4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursdays. Franciscus said people interested in receiving food from the foundation just need to bring identification.
“We ask anybody for the first time or if they haven't been in a while that they bring license or ID, and mail to their address, and once they are entered, it's a very quick program,” Franciscus said. “It's just a blessing we get donations that we are able to do this.”
