By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Many of the shelves at the Community Assistance Center food pantry are bare.

The center has increased the number of times families can seek food assistance at the pantry from four per year to six. This, coupled with a natural uptick in use during the summertime when children are not in school, has drained the center’s resources.

The center is hoping to get by until the annual Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat food drive, which is set for Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The call went out earlier this week about the pantry’s low supplies and several monetary and food donations have come in. The money that was donated was used to purchase what Laurie Mortinger, center director, said she hopes will be enough food to get the food pantry through until the food drive.

The pantry will accept food donations any time the center is open, which is 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Checks can be mailed to the Community Assistance Center, 12th and Oak streets, Hays, KS 67601.

The center is in most need of canned and boxed goods, with the exception of green beans and corn. This could include canned fruits, soups, stew mixes, baking mixes or beans.

The Community Assistance Center is not supported through any federal or city funds. There are two paid employees and the rest are volunteers. The center relies solely on donations from the public and its regular community garage sales.

“Hays has been very generous,” Mortinger said. “We are thankful. You don’t have to give a lot. It all adds up.”

HHS DECA
The annual Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat canned food drive is set for Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Hays. Volunteers will be going door to door collecting non-perishable food items from 6 to 9 p.m.

To assure residents that the items collected are for the Community Assistance Center, all volunteers will be wearing an identification badge with “Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat” clearly printed on them. Please leave items on the porch if you will not be home or do not want someone ringing the doorbell. Youth and adult volunteers from Hays give of their time to make this food drive a success.

Any house missed or those living in a rural area may take food items to the Community Assistance Center in Hays at 12th and Oak until noon Oct. 31.

This event is organized by the Hays High School DECA Club. Contact adviser Shaina Prough at Hays High School, 785-623-2600, if you need further information.