Soup & Salad fundraiser raises $4,000 for local food pantry
By Richard Reyes
For the Sun
Author’s note: Richard Reyes is a former reporter who currently serves as a board member for the Community Pantry.
The Community Pantry raised more than $4,000 during its fifth annual Soup & Salad Fundraiser Dinner in September with help from local restaurants and community members who donated food to serve to the public.
The pantry hosted the Soup & Salad event on Sept. 17 at the McKinley County Community Center in Gallup. The annual fundraiser invited residents to purchase tickets to enjoy an all-you-can-eat style buffet of soups, salads, breads, desserts, and more.
“Tonight went really well,” Community Pantry Director Alice Perez said after the event. “I was hoping that we would have gotten more people. We still did really well though, and it was a great time for everybody that came. There were lots of conversations taking place, a lot of community engagement, which is what our goal is, to make everybody happy that way.”
With scattered showers, the evening seemed to have perfect soup weather, but attendance was lower than usual this year. Recent storms have brought flooding and washed-out roads to the area, which may have deterred some area residents from attending, Perez said.
Despite the low turnout, the event raised over $4,600. All of the proceeds benefit The Community Pantry and its mission of ensuring no mother’s child goes hungry.
The revenue for the event came in the form of ticket sales, direct monetary donations, and Hope Garden sales. The pantry’s Hope Garden team set up a table in the back of the venue full of vegetables, fruits, flower arrangements, fresh honey, and seeds for community members to purchase.
Several local restaurants donated soups, salads, breads and desserts for the event. Community Pantry staff and board members, along with other community members, donated homemade soups and salads as well.
Staff and volunteers, including a group of 12 from the Pennsylvania-based organization Americans for Native Americans, served lines of hungry attendees throughout the night.
“We have a very smooth running machine,” Perez said. “Our employees are the rock. They’re the foundation of the organization. They’re the ones that make everything happen. I appreciate them so much because I could not do what I do if I did not have them.”
SUPPORTING THE PANTRY
The Soup & Salad Fundraiser Dinner is just one of many ways the pantry raises money throughout the year. Perez said about 70% of the pantry’s operating costs depend directly on fundraising events, private donations, foundational gifts, and grant writing.
For individuals and business owners who missed the event and want to support the Community Pantry, donations are always welcomed.
Perez encouraged local businesses to host food drives to provide items for emergency relief, but she also explained that monetary donations go far. The pantry can leverage its buying power to turn $1 into four meals for families.
“The children that we’re servicing right now are the future employees, the future leaders, the future decision makers of Gallup and McKinley County,” she said. “So we need to invest in them now, teaching them that it’s important, so that they can invest in us later.”
The Community Pantry Board of Directors President Cindi Clifford emphasized that the pantry focuses heavily on fighting food insecurity for children, primarily through its Food For Kids program, which serves more than 1,000 children in 32 schools.
“People don’t really realize they don’t eat,” Clifford said. “My grandson, every day when he goes to school he asks, ‘Why do I have to eat breakfast?’ I said, ‘It gives you brain power. You got to eat. You can’t function on an empty stomach, so you eat what they give you every day.’”
To learn more about the Community Pantry and to make a donation, visit www.thecommunitypantry.org.
