What do you visualize when you hear “hub and spoke”? Perhaps it is a wagon wheel. This is the vision of the new Catholic Charities Food Pantry.

The pantry, as a hub, is a location for accessing food and other emergency services. After the immediate crisis is addressed, the pantry is the entry point to connect people with additional long-term assistance at Catholic Charities – supports finding a job through Employment Services, or permanent housing through Housing Services.

The first pantry opened in south Kansas City. From this location, a new pantry delivery van is able to reach throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area and counties to the south. By taking assistance to families where they live, we remove transportation barriers that might prevent families from coming to us.

As this effort grows, a hub location in northwest Missouri will be added to help reach counties in our northern service area, such as Nodaway, Daviess and more.