Six Jefferson County food pantries recently received donations of gas cards to help clients at the pump.
State Rep. Phil Amato partnered with Express Mart gas stations to donate 128 $25 gas cards to the food pantries. Along with the gas cards, clients also receive a coupon for a free fountain drink at an Express Mart location.
The pantries that received gas cards are:
■ The Gateway Food Pantry, 2024 Key West Drive, Arnold
■ The Jefferson County Salvation Army, 3740 Telegraph Road, just outside of Arnold
■ The Sister Christine’s Food Pantry at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 6030 Old Antonia Road, Imperial
■ The Jefferson County Rescue Mission, 8943 Commercial Blvd., Pevely
■ The Ozark Food Pantry, 1 Sunset Park, Festus
■ The Peace Pantry, 8100 S. Industrial Drive, Cedar Hill
“The only catch to the gas cards is they have to be used all at one time, which is not hard to do when gas costs nearly $4 per gallon,” Amato said.
Amato, who represents District 113 that covers northeast Jefferson County, said he donated $2,500 to each pantry. He said Express Mart, which is owned by the Home Service Oil Company, then sold the cards to the pantries at a discounted price of $20 each.
“Express Mart did me a big favor,” Amato said of getting the gas cards to pantries. “I said one of the missing parts to this is getting the gas cards to the pantries. They said, ‘Phil, we have supervisors at the different Express Marts. We will take that off your hands, and we will deliver the cards.”
Amato said he believes the gas cards will help people who need food assistance be able to get to pantries easier.
“If you look at the statistics, I think about 20 percent of Jefferson County families qualify for food assistance,” he said. “Then you have the people just above that living paycheck to paycheck, adding an extra $100 to $150 a month for fuel that they weren’t used to paying. That is what I kept thinking about. What can we do to help people get to work or where they need to go.”
Amato said the pantries were chosen because of their locations near Express Mart gas stations.
He also said he hopes other people will donate money for pantries to purchase gas cards.
Amato said people may write checks to the pantry of their choice and write “gas cards” in the memo line to have the money used to purchase cards.
“This is a start,” he said. “My ultimate dream is we do this again, maybe after the first of the year. We will see how this works out.”
Amato donated a total of $15,000 to the pantries for each location to be able to purchase the gas cards.
“I have lived out here all of my life,” he said. “I have seen the community go from a truck-farm community to a starter home community to what it is today. When the community is hurting, all of us are hurting. My hope is there are people in Jefferson County who will see this, and they will say maybe I can write a check to one of the food pantries. Then we can keep this thing going.
“We can’t fix everything, but at least we can do our part.”
Amato said he also wants to explore grants that may help purchase gas cards. He said he may apply for a grant from the Jefferson Foundation.
The foundation was created from the $154 million the Mercy health system paid in 2013 when it acquired Jefferson Regional Medical Center (now Mercy Hospital Jefferson) in Crystal City. It began awarding grants in 2014.
“If we get some help from (the Jefferson Foundation), we may make this more reoccurring,” Amato said. “To do that, we have to get a nonprofit organization to request the grant from the Jefferson Foundation.”