As relief efforts are underway in other parts of the state, local residents in need received boxes of food provided by Mountaineer Food Bank this weekend at Covenant Church in Shepherdstown.

Covenant had 29 volunteers to box and load, assembly line-style, 25,000 pounds of food to recipients who qualified based upon the United States Department of Agriculture, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) guidelines.

Kathy Miller, administrative assistant and food pantry coordinator at Covenant Church, was one of the organizers for the food giveaway.

“We served 113 people on Saturday and another 300 on Sunday,” said Miller. “We had a ‘mobile food pantry’ sign, but when we announced ‘free food,’ people really started showing up. There were many who called us saying that they couldn’t make it Saturday or didn’t know it was happening, so we made arrangements to get them food on Sunday.”

A family of under five members received two boxes of food. One was a cold box with chicken, milk and produce, the other box contained juice and snacks like mini muffins and fruit and nut bars. Families who had over five members received four boxes of food.

Miller said they distributed almost all of the food and were able to donate the remainder to a camp for disadvantaged youth and an organization for teen moms, called Young Lives.

Mountaineer Food Bank is one of the largest in West Virginia, located in Braxton County, and distributes over 11 million pounds of food annually. This is only the second trip to Jefferson County for the mobile pantry, but Miller says Covenant is planning to have it again in August with a goal of being able to offer the mobile pantry quarterly.

For more information about Covenant Church’s food pantry, call 304-876-2212.