Table of Grace mobile food pantry receives $2,000 grant to serve three counties

Table of Grace Food Pantry in Sidney has received a $2,000 grant to help meet the hunger needs of lower-income residents in Cheyenne, Garden and Deuel counties.

The grant is provided through Farm Credit Services of America’s “Working Here Fund.”

The Table of Grace Food Pantry provides food to residents of all ages within its 35-mile service area. This includes youngsters who attend a day care in a lower-income neighborhood and older residents through an assisted living facility and a community center. Table of Grace distributes food to an estimated 75 families each week.

“Most of our clients have no other organizations that assist them,” said Kim Castner of Table of Grace Food Pantry. “By addressing such a large number of clients, our dollars are spread thin.”

The Working Here Fund grant will assist Table of Grace Food Pantry continue to meet the hunger needs of the people it serves, Castner said.

“We are committed not only to the American farmer but also to the rural communities we serve,” said Darrin Clarkson, vice president of FCSAmerica’s Scottsbluff office. “It is a privilege to help fund organizations that are making life better in rural America.”

Table of Grace Food Pantry is one of 82 organizations to receive a Working Here Fund grant in the first quarter of 2015. FCSAmerica awarded $135,000 during the latest grant cycle ending March 31, 2015.

The Table of Grace Food Pantry obtains its food through the Wal-Mart Feeding America program and the Food Bank of the Heartland, which currently charges 16 cents per pound. The Table of Grace Food Pantry also accepts donations and food at community drop sites. Grants and fund-raisers support the program as well.