The Bread for Life Community Food Pantry celebrated the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul by unveiling its mobile food pantry in the parking lot of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral Monday.
The pantry plans to hit the road the first of next week with 11 different stops planned.
“There are those in our communities and the outlying areas that could not get into Bardstown to be able to get to the food pantry,” said Sheri McGuffin, board chair of St. Vincent de Paul. “That’s where this mobile food pantry was born.”
The RV was purchased early this year before being customized with shelves and refrigerators. Executive Director Christine Hovan said the pantry came up with the idea a year ago to solve the issue of transportation and food access.
Hovan said she saw the need for a mobile food pantry during the first day of their satellite food pantry in New Haven, when a woman came up on a riding lawn mower, the only form of transportation she had.
“We’ve tripled the number of families that we serve in New Haven in 18 months,” Hovan said. “We expect that we will at least double the number of families that we serve in Nelson County, outside of Bardstown.”
Hovan said they plan to get it rolling Monday, when they will be at Bloomfield Baptist in the morning and will set up at St. Michael Catholic Church in Fairfield in the afternoon.
“We’ll be out Monday through Wednesday for the first three weeks of the month,” Hovan said. “Until we settle into what we need to do and when we need to do it.”
The mobile pantry will make stops all around the county from New Haven to Boston, along with New Hope and Cox’s Creek areas.
Hovan said they are in need of a couple volunteers at all of their locations. Anyone interested in volunteering can learn more by calling or texting Hovan at (502) 773-1130.
