Community responds to Salvation Army's request for food

The community has answered a call from the Salvation Army for donations to restock its food shelves. But that has done nothing to address the prohibitive cost of driving the Salvation Army box truck to the Central Missouri Food Bank in Columbia to pick up more.

Captain Joe Irvine, of The Salvation Army, said the agency received several donations over the past week in response to a call for help.

“It is much better, thanks to the community,” Irvine said. “It has been a terrific response.”

The Salvation Army makes a monthly trip to the Central Missouri Food Bank to pick up food donations. Cynthia Hopper, social work director for the Salvation Army, said that it costs more than $100 to drive to Columbia each month.

Open Door Benevolent Ministries, which runs the city’s other food bank, also makes the trip to Columbia to pick up food. Jack Menges, executive director said workers pick up food weekly.

Menges said that the Salvation Army could receive the same amount of food that Open Door receives if it sent someone to pick it up.

Ditzfeld Transfer Inc. and Viebrock Construction and Equipment Inc. provide Open Door with transportation to Columbia for a minimal expense, Menges said.

“We’ve worked on building a network of people who can help us,” he said.

Peggy Kirkpatrick, executive director of Central Missouri Food Bank, said that Open Door received 2.2 million pounds of food last year while the Salvation Army only received 121,626 pounds.

“We have food. Could we use more? Definitely,” Kirkpartick said.

Kirkpatrick said that the Central Missouri Food Bank takes any food available to the agency. Once the food arrives at the bank, a menu is made and agencies can place their orders based on what is available.

“When food comes in, it is going right back out the door,” Kirkpatrick said.

Although the Salvation Army has had people donating, the need is still there.

“It doesn’t go as far as you would like it to go,” Hopper said. The agency serves 25 to 30 families a week.

“The demand for food assistance is very high right now,” Kirkpartick said.