The Weatherford Food & Resource Center is expanding its service area to include Geary, Hinton and Lookeba beginning June 1.
The Weatherford food pantry already serves many communities in and around Custer County, but executive director Lori Flansburg said the nonprofit wants to help even more people. “We feel like we’ve been very blessed,” Flansburg told The Geary Star. “We feel like we’re able to serve more people, so therefore we feel like we should serve more people.”
The Weatherford Food & Resource Center operates a “client-choice food pantry,” Flansburg explained, which is set up like a grocery store. Clients can choose a certain number of items during their visit, depending on the size of their household, and can shop once every 30 days.
The pantry is affiliated with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, which supplies food as well as training and resources to the center, Flansburg said.
“We also connect clients to other resources that are available,” she went on. “So if a client is in need of medical care, we can connect them to a free medical clinic.” She said in the past, for example, the center has connected a truck driver with hearing aids he needed to pass his CDL test, and found beds for a single mother and her children.
“So whatever their needs are,” Flansburg said, “we try to fill their needs with food or we try to connect them with a resource that can help them.”
Geary residents who need assistance can visit the Food & Resource Center at its Weatherford location. They need to bring a photo ID and proof of address, which can be a utility bill, rent receipt or lease agreement.
Clients’ incomes must be at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, Flansburg said. In 2021, the federal poverty guideline for a family of four is $26,500; in a two-person household, it is $17,420, and individuals meet the poverty guideline at $12,880.
The Food & Resource Center offers cooking demonstrations every Monday, Flansburg said. “And hopefully they will be inspired to cook that simple, nutritional meal at home for their family.”
The center is always looking for volunteers and donations, Flansburg said. Those interested in volunteering can contact the center’s volunteer coordinator Kendra at 580-774-5377, or email her at volunteer@weatherfordfrc.org.
“Food-wise, we can take pretty much any kind of food as a donation,” Flansburg said. Locals can also donate online at weatherfordfrc.org.
The Food & Resource Center currently serves about 1,400 people and distributes about 30,000 pounds of food per month, Flansburg said. It currently serves the communities of Arapaho, Butler, Clinton, Colony, Corn, Custer City, Eakly, Fay, Hammon, Hydro, Thomas and Weatherford.