Members of Salem Presbyterian deliver food for Trick or Treat So Others May Eat. / Photo courtesy of Salem Food Pantry.

The Salem Food Pantry shares the following about a very busy November in their newsletter:

November is always the busiest month of the year. This year was no exception. In fact, it was our busiest month ever. We served 507 families in November. Two days Friday 16th and Wednesday the 21st we served over 50 families each day. We also helped 21 families with utilities.

At the same time, it was a huge month for in-kind donations. November started out with a bang with three churches participating in Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat. College Lutheran, Central United Methodist and Salem Presbyterian Churches collected 2,838 pounds of food from the community combined. All total 16 churches and organizations donated over 100 pounds for the month; Community Church, Calvary United Methodist, New Hope Presbyterian, Andrew Lewis Middle School, St Paul’s Episcopal, South Salem Elementary, Peters Creek Church of the Brethren, First Wesleyan Preschool, The Freedom Center, Mr. Danny Hall, Big Lots, First Baptist, Roanoke College and Ms L. Baker all gave over 100 pounds. The total in-kind donations for the month was 10,744 pounds.

Novozymes also donated $1,000 to buy turkeys. The manager at Brambleton Kroger matched the donations so we ended up with 100 turkeys and 100 turkey breasts to give out for Thanksgiving. Just as we were running out, Feeding America called us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with 30 additional turkeys.

With all these donations, don’t think we don’t need your continued help. The clients keep coming in and requesting food. We expect we will serve over 450 families in December as well. This requires a lot of food.

For more information about the Salem Food Pantry, click here.