By Alaina Denean

The Selma Times-Journal

The holidays are quickly approaching, and while many families are getting ideas together for their family dinners, others are wondering how they are going to put food on the table for today and tomorrow.

This year, the food pantry is holding a first ever “Stock the Shelves” fundraiser in support of those families in need.

“We’ve never tried this before. It’s something that we decided we needed to try and I just know that Selma and Dallas County care, and we are hoping that they all turn out and just come by,” said Nacy Bennett, a COA board member.

In 1995, five local churches combined in their effort to help serve Selma and Dallas County, by creating the Christian Outreach Alliance of Dallas County, better known as the Food Pantry.

Their goal was, and still is, to help serve members of the community who need the extra support, by providing them with food that they otherwise would not be able to access.

“This is for households at or below the federal poverty guidelines,” Bennett said. “This helps them supplement the food in their household to try and stretch it as much as possible.”

The food pantry is hoping to get members of the community to make food and monetary donations on Friday, Oct. 24 between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the pantry.

“We are hoping we see the generosity of the community coming forth, because if it’s a quarter donation, it’s a quarter more than we had. If it’s one can, it’s one more can than we had,” Bennett said.

Although can goods are always helpful and encouraged, Bennett said monetary donations help more in the long run, because they are able to purchase cans from the Food Bank for a lot less than people can in a store.

Currently, the food pantry is serving over 800 households in Dallas County.

“There’s no way that the 8.5 pounds [of food] that we give out to each qualified client twice a month can feed them,” Bennett said.

With the number of people needing the help that the food pantry provides, Bennett said she is encouraging everyone to participate in the “Stock the Shelves” fundraiser, including any schools that could have a can food drive of their own.

“We just want the community to know we’re here and that we try to provide a service that we know is needed,” Bennett said.