Bluffton's food safety net is the Bluffton Community Assistance Program. It operates the Bluffton food pantry housed in St. John's United Church of Christ.
Rev. Kevin Mohr, pastor of English Lutheran Church and president of the Bluffton Area Ministerial Association, told Bluffton chamber members about the work of the program at the Sept. 14 chamber breakfast in the town hall. Nearly 70 persons attended.
Mohr told about the many projects of the Community Assistance Prorgram. He also shared the annual report of the organization from June 2011 to May 2012.
Among items mentioned in the report:
• Food drives were held by the post office, middle school, high school several churches, Dollar General and Bluffton University athletic department. Members of the university baseball team sorted Christmas food donations, cleaned shelves, shelved food.
• The program had 19 new clients, 46 total clients.
• 364 families were served by the food pantry totalling 802 people. Each family received about 30 items each month for a total of 12,420 pantry items being dispursed.
• Nearly 43 famiies were adopted for Christmas. Ebenezer Mennonite provided grocerieis for an additional five families.
• St. John's United Church of Christ donated two refrigerators, added another room to the pantry, and provided a large bookcase used for items.
• Once this year the food pantry was listed as a place for a memorial gift.
• The MOPS club of Ebenezer donated money to the pantry from a sale. The pantry received proceeds from the Ebenezer Mennonite summer musical production. Each year for the past five to six years the congregation has donated its proceeds to the program - approximately $1,000 per year.
On-going programs
• Gift certificates were distributed for Thanksgiving and Easter.
• All families who wanted to be adopted at Christmas were adopted.
• The monthly food pick up is the third Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to noon.
