ABOUT THE PORTABLE PANTRY PROJECT

We created the Portable Pantry Project (PPP) back in October of 2013 when we made our first shipment of food to Mesquite’s Goodbar Senior Center. We delivered 50 bags of food that were donated to us by Mesquite Social Services. Eight years later, we are still providing food to needy seniors in the Mesquite/East Dallas areas.

The PPP was created by Griswold Home Care Mesquite TX, Mesquite Social Services (now defunct), Mesquite Senior Recreation Centers, and the Mesquite Elks Lodge 2404.

We designed the PPP for seniors living on Social Security to help them get through the month. We know seniors’ Social Security money tends to run out or is very low towards the end of the month, so providing food to them helps stretch those dollars. We deliver bags or boxes of food to Mesquite Goodbar Senior Center on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, and then the food gets distributed to seniors who have signed up for the program.

In 2018, we joined forces with Sharing Life Community Outreach Center in Mesquite, TX. Working with Sharing Life has been a wonderful experience. We have increased food quality and added the PAN Program (Patient Access Network) for seniors who can qualify, courtesy of the North Texas Food Bank. Sharing Life has been great at helping us make this an even better program and we look forward to our continued partnership with them.

Mesquite’s Goodbar Senior Center has been a staple of this program and the leadership team with Kristen Herndon –  the center’s manager – is so passionate about this program. Every month, Kristen is part of the process. Kristen and her team love their seniors and will do anything they can to help them, like standing outside during a pandemic, in the rain, in the cold, or in 100-degree heat, to make sure their seniors get the food and support they need.

The Mesquite Elks Lodge 2404 has provided so many volunteers for this program. We have seniors helping seniors in our community. Dozens and dozens of volunteers have helped bag food, deliver food, and donated money and time to the program. We cannot thank the Mesquite Elks Lodge enough for all of their continued support.

We love supporting our seniors in our community and look for many ways to do so.

Special thanks to the following people for their continued support:

Bill Gibson, Chandler Gibson, Glenn Penson, Kevin Goldsberry, Wendy Haldeman, Kristen Herndon