Pendleton Food Pantry finds a new home
Jul. 1—The Pendleton Food Pantry, a longstanding charitable organization in the town, has found a new home at Christian Faith Chapel, 5733 Tonawanda Creek Road, and will reopen on July 7.
The pantry this week vacated Brown Electric, where it was housed for six months after leaving St. Paul's United Church of Christ this past December. At the time, the owners of Brown Electric had extra space in their building and made a temporary agreement with the pantry to house it rent-free, provided the organization paid for any electricity that it used.
A paying tenant soon presented itself, however, and Brown Electric decided it could not pass up the extra income.
"Thank God we found a place," pantry treasurer Joan Wright said.
"God sent us here and they said 'Come in!'," secretary Sally Cornell said.
Just two weeks ago, things were looking grim for the organization. Several volunteers, as well as clients who depend on the pantry, approached the Pendleton town board at its June business meeting to ask for help.
"What happens tonight could spell the difference between shutting down temporarily and shutting down for good," Amber McAninch, whose mother directs the group, said prior to the meeting.
Alas, a tentative plan to move into the new town-owned Pendleton Community Center fell through. Town supervisor Joel Maerten said that wouldn't be possible because it's against state law for a municipality to house a charitable organization.
Mike Pilato, a member of the Christian Faith Chapel board of trustees, first heard about the Pendleton Food Pantry through a fellow church member.
"We were looking to volunteer at Brown Electric," Pilato said. "Then they ended up needing a place and that's what sort of brought them here."
At Christian Faith Chapel, the food pantry will share space with Heritage Christian Services, a group that provides support for people with developmental disabilities. Pilato said the pairing is an "opportunity" for Heritage Christian Services, some of whose clients will become pantry volunteers, assembling bags of food for pantry clients and delivering them to the clients' waiting vehicles outside.
Pantry director Melissa McAninch summed up this week's turn of events this way:
"Everyone with the Pendleton Food Pantry would sincerely like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. And to let the community know how grateful the volunteers of the Pendleton Food Pantry are that we can continue our mission of helping our friends, family, neighbors and community that may find themselves food insecure."
