The Gateway Food Pantry spent an evening celebrating this year’s accomplishments and raising money to continue its mission of providing food to those in need.
The pantry, previously called the Arnold Food Pantry, held its annual Taste of Arnold on Nov. 19 at the Arnold Recreation Center. The event was limited to 250 people, said Patrick McKelvey, Gateway Food Pantry executive director.
“It went exceptionally well,” he said. “We raised $75,000, which we will put toward purchasing food for this year and next year. The Arnold Recreation Center was an incredible host. It was an incredible evening to celebrate the work we do for our community and to look forward to what we will do next year as well.”
The evening featured a meal of chicken, pasta with or without beef, a fall vegetable medley, potatoes and salad prepared by Adam Lambay, the executive chef at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark and a member of the pantry’s board of directors.
ROLD, an Arnold catering business that makes eggrolls, and breakfast, dinner and dessert rolls, supplied appetizers, and Nothing Bundt Cakes of Arnold provided dessert.
Anheuser-Busch, the ABV Barrel Shop of Arnold and Wild Sun Winery and Brewery of Hillsboro provided beverages for the evening.
“The food was excellent,” McKelvey said. “Everyone loved the food.”
The night also included raffles, a silent auction and a 50/50 drawing.
McKelvey said the evening was about more than collecting money to support the pantry, it also was a time for everyone to reflect on what has been accomplished this year as Arnold and the surrounding community dealt with a tornado in March and the effects of the Boeing strike and federal government shutdown.
“We have never had a time to breathe and recognize what we are doing because we are always moving onto the next thing,” he said. “No one is ready for a 33 percent increase (in use of the food pantry) from October to November. We had a one-month surge due to the government shutdown. Having an evening when volunteers, the leaders of Arnold and our community at large come together and take a breath to talk about what we have done puts wind back in our sails as an organization.”
McKelvey said the food pantry went back to work the day after the Taste of Arnold, when it provided its regular food distributions along with Thanksgiving meals to clients.
The pantry regularly distributes food to about half of its clients every Thursday.
The pantry also provided Thanksgiving meals during a food distribution that was held Nov. 26, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
McKelvey said the pantry provided about 425 Thanksgiving meals, which included turkey, stuffing, yams, scalloped potatoes, gravy, no-bake cheesecake, macaroni and cheese, green beans, corn and cranberry sauce on Nov. 20 and 26. He also said families of four or more received a pumpkin pie.
The pantry partnered with the Chick-Fil-A restaurant, 1 Arnold Mall in Arnold, to provide the Thanksgiving meals.
“They paid for about 75 percent of the turkeys and 75 percent of the sides, and we bought the rest,” McKelvey said. “We could not have done it alone. Without them partnering with us, it could not have happened.”
McKelvey said the pantry this year has provided food assistance to more people than at any time in its history. The Arnold pantry started operating in 1984.
However, he also said the pantry has probably received more support than it has at any time in its history.
“It has been good to see during the whole month (of November), when we needed it most, our community stepped up and delivered,” he said. “Our organization has never felt so much support from our community.
“We had over 50,000 pounds of food donations in November. That is between Scouting for Food and our doorbell ringing nonstop with different groups and people bringing us donations. This has been the best donation month in our organization’s history. Our community has answered the bell. When we really needed the help, our community came through.”
Gateway Food Pantry offers food assistance to residents of the Fox C-6 and Windsor C-1 school districts and those who live in the 63127 and 63128 zip codes in south St. Louis County.
Those seeking assistance or wanting to donate may visit gatewayfoodpantry.org or call 636-287-3663. Gateway Food Pantry is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 8-10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.