(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Volunteers at The Refuge food pantry in Greenwood sort donations by date. The oldest food gets distributed first so as to avoid giving out expired food. Executive Director Kerry Carmichael (right) said the pantry is looking to pay off the mortgage on its building next year.
By HANNAH GUNNELL
One Greenwood food pantry is looking to hold a “burn the note” ceremony next year.
The ceremony will mark the day The Refuge pays off the mortgage on its building, 1150 South Park Drive. The building’s pantry includes a walk in freezer and coolers in addition to shelving, which allows it to distribute cold food.
The building also includes a cafeteria and full kitchen. Recipients of the food pantry have the option to come in for a hot meal during weekly distribution times on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings.
Executive Director Kerry Carmichael said The Refuge serves weekly, but they also serve home-bound families once a month. Distributed items include hygiene supplies as well as food.
The pantry serves over 200 people per month. Items come from a variety of places.
“We have a partnership with Gleaners and Midwest [Food Bank], so we have a lot of snacks and drinks and items we can put in our freezer,” Carmichael said. “We have a great partnership with Kroger Clicklist. They have a program where anything that is substituted that the buyer doesn’t want gets donated to us. So you order a gallon milk, and you really want the name brand gallon milk but they’re out of it, if the substituted milk gets out the door before the buyer rejects it, then it goes in their donate pile and comes to us. We get quite a bit of refrigerator and food items through that.”
Other food items is donated through church and business partners, or The Refuge volunteers purchase it with monetary donations.
“Throughout the year we try to do different partnerships with businesses — we call it Tackle Hunger Partners,” she said. “They do what works good for them. Depending on how they’re set up, if they want to do a food drive, if they want to a donate to give back, if they want to donate hygiene products — whatever is good for them.”
In addition to the pantry, The Refuge also has an after school program, The Drop, that accommodates 10 kids twice a week. The pantry has partnered with the Chad Neimen Memorial Foundation for the program. Children participating in the program are recommended by the schools.
“They are able to just build on life skills as well as homework and studying,” she said. “We have a great partnership with the schools to figure out what they need and how we can best serve them.”
Classroom and office space is available for The Drop and to meet with those who are utilizing the food pantry. The Refuge held a capital campaign to purchase the property and took out a bank loan to build the building.
“We’re coming up on our fifth year here,” Carmichael said. “Our goal right now is to raise enough money to get it paid off in February/March. That’s our big drive right now.”
Monetary donations can be made on their website, therefugeinc.com. More information about the pantry, how to donate, and how to volunteer is available on their website and on their social media pages.