By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
The Geneseo-Atkinson Food Pantry now has a van, a gift from the congregation at Grace United Methodist Church in Geneseo.
According to food pantry and church staff, the vehicle will be put to good use.
Karen Doy, who is president of the Missions Committee at Grace Church, and who also serves on the food pantry board, shared how the idea happened to give the van to the food pantry…”At the November board meeting of the food pantry, Mike Sigwalt, director of the food pantry, shared that there are a record number of guests using the pantry. He also mentioned that due to the increased workload, River Bend Food Pantry is no longer picking up from Silvis Wal-Mart, Jewel-Osco and Aldi grocery stores. River Bend offered local food pantries could pick up what they wanted and what they would e able to pick up.
Doy added that the additional amount of food would really help meet the local food pantry’s large demand
She said she and Sigwalt talked after that November meeting….”I felt that it was not feasible for the Pantry employees’ vehicles to be utilized due to traveling distance and quantity of food. Geneseo donations also often require multiple trips due to the size of personal vehicles.”
Mike Sigwalt, left, director of the Geneseo-Atkinson Food Pantry, accepts the keys to the van in the photograph from Brian Humphries, president of the Grace United Methodist Church Board of Trustees; and Karen Doy, president of the Missions Committee at Grace Church and also a board member of the food pantry. The van was donated to the food panty from Grace Church. Photo by Claudia Loucks
HOW GRACE CHURCH CHOSE TO DONATE THE VAN:
As president of the Missions Board at Grace Church, Doy attended a Grace Church Council meeting where she learned that the church was no longer using the church van and a question was asked as to whether the van should be sold.
“No decision was made at that time,’ Doy said, but it was at that time when she emailed Brian Humphries, who serves as chairperson of the Board of Trustees at Grace Church, to ask if the church would be interested in selling the van…”I explained why it would help the Pantry. It was through discussions of the boards involved that a decision was made to donate the van to the food pantry.”
Brian Humphries shared that the decision to donate the van was made by the Church Trustees with final approval made by the Grace Church Council...”Use of the van has decreased greatly since Covid. So, while the van was still in good running condition, it made sense to allocate this resource where the need was greater.”
The 1999 Dodge van purchased new by the church in 1999 and its current mileage is 70,000.
“While the van has been used sporadically in the past few years, we felt that it would be used more frequently by the food pantry,” Humphries said. “After all, vehicles need to be driven to stay in good working condition…”I’m so glad we were able to contribute to the food pantry by donating the van which will, in turn, benefit the community.”
Other church members who were involved in making the donation happen include Steve Wildemuth, who made sure the van was in good running condition.
Doy added, ”Steve and I met Mike Sigwalt on a Saturday to test drive the van and Mike thought it sounded, looked and drove like a wonderful Christmas present.”
Kirk Hodgson of Pinks’ Paint and Body Shop in Geneseo, was responsible for removing all exterior decals as well as seats and seat belts, at no cost.
And Mike Sigwalt’s appreciation was evident with the big smile he had when given the keys to the van…”Having the van will help us in our continual quest to obtain sufficient food for our pantry guests. Grace United Methodist Church’s generosity is really greatly appreciated! For in-town food acquisitions, it has not been uncommon for us to have to make more than one trip to secure all the food. Additionally, as we’ve expanded our search for additional food retailers to work with, we have several which are located outside of Geneseo (specifically Silvis and Kewanee) and it wouldn’t be practical to make more than one trip to these locations. And we’ll be able to order more through our food banks.”
