Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph has received a $2M gift that will allow the agency to open and operate two food pantry locations in their service area.
The agency has long recognized the need to have more robust food programs for its clients, and is excited to expand its emergency assistance supports to include full pantries.
Donors Peter and Veronica Mallouk, owners of Creative Planning, Inc., have supported various initiatives to address food insecurity in the Kansas City region.
“Well established food programs like Harvesters are near and dear to us, and we have championed them for a long time,” said Peter Mallouk. “What excited us about the opportunity to work with Catholic Charities was their willingness and ability to launch new programs that serves families both in urban and rural communities – where few resources exist currently.”
“Through this new program, at-risk families may be able to find not just help, but also hope,“ Veronica added.
Catholic Charities covers 27 counties in western Missouri, and plans to establish pantries in the northern and southern regions of their service area.
The pantries will operate mobile outreach services which will allow them to provide food and other programming far beyond the cities of Kansas City and St. Joseph, where the agency has permanent offices, “These pantries are designed around the client choice model,” said Karen Noel, CEO of Catholic Charities Kansas City St. Joseph. “This means families may choose their own food from available nutritious selections, and meet their own taste preference, cultural dishes and better manage chronic medical conditions that respond to a particular diet. This gift is truly transformative to our agency, and those we serve.”
The agency expects to have the south Kansas City pantry operational this spring, and the northern location in the fall.
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