BOUNTIFUL, Utah — With the holidays just around the corner, thousands of Utahns are turning to food pantries for help putting meals on the table.
At the Bountiful Food Pantry, the need has grown dramatically in recent years. The pantry, which has been serving the community for 50 years, expects to help roughly 110,000 people this year.
“In 2021 we fed 27,000 people. And this year, we expect to feed probably 110,000 people,” Executive Director Rebekah Anderson said. “So it has skyrocketed and every single pantry in the state is seeing those increases.”
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Anderson has served as executive director for the past six years. During that time, she has watched the need in the community grow, but she has also seen more people step up to help.
“We just have all these people who come help us do this. There’s no way we’d be able to do this without them,” Anderson said. “Our community members do a lot of food drives for us. If we put something on our sign out front that we need, people just bring them in droves.”
The pantry has 325 regular volunteers, including Jennifer Jensen, who has volunteered there for about eight years.
Jensen said her goal is to make sure people who walk through the doors feel comfortable and have access to the resources their families need.
“Right now, food is very expensive,” Jensen said. “People are struggling to make ends meet. Our job here is to give them a comfortable place to come and get food for their families, and I love connecting with the people who come in.”
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Behind the scenes, staff members are also working to keep the pantry running and its shelves stocked.
Warehouse Supervisor Jake Woolley said the work gives him a sense of purpose.
“It’s one of those jobs where I wake up and actually look forward to coming to,” Woolley said. “Every day I kind of leave with a really good feeling in my heart.”
The holiday season is one of the pantry’s busiest times of the year. Right now, the Bountiful Food Pantry is specifically asking for Thanksgiving side dishes to help families prepare holiday meals.
Anderson is also encouraging Utahns who want to help to look beyond Bountiful and support food pantries in their own communities.
“I would say if anyone wants to help, they should either look for their local food pantry to see how they can help or go to the Utah Food Bank,” Anderson said. “The Utah Food Bank provides food for pantries all across the state.”
November may have just begun, but at the Bountiful Food Pantry, preparations are already underway to make sure families have food on their tables this holiday season.
They also have their Thanksgiving Turkey Drive and are taking donations at the Bountiful Food Pantry, Open Doors Food Pantry in Layton and Kaysville LDS Church.