Atchison County Food Pantry

Goal: $20,000.00

Specific Need

We use funds we raise through Match Day to purchase food to distribute in food boxes at our biweekly drive-through food pantries for Atchison County residents. This food supplements the produce, bakery, meat and bakery products we rescue through Feeding America in the county. We purchase meat, shelf stable milk, canned vegetables, fruits and soups, canned tuna, pasta and pasta sauce, peanut butter and jelly, cold and hot cereal, pancakes and syrup, cornbread and cake mixes, canned tuna, ramen noodles and other staples. Through July of 2026, we have spent $46,970.34 in addition to rescued food for our food boxes. We are budgeted more than $72,500 on food for 2026, although this may not be enough as we are serving 25% more residents than one year ago. As we are an all-volunteer organization housed at First Christian Church, more than 95% of our income is spent on food, and the balance on gas, vehicle and equipment repairs and office supplies. So far this year through July 24th we have distributed food at our biweekly food pantries to 2,466 Atchison County households including 5,974 individuals, an increase of 25% over 2025.

Mission

Our mission is to provide food to the food insecure population of Atchison County. According to the US Census Bureau more than 12.8% of Atchison County's 16,384 residents live in poverty. Feeding America estimates more than 19% of the county's residents are food insecure, defined as a household income of less than 185% of the poverty line.

Profile

We are an all-volunteer organization that is a mission and partner of the First Christian Church in Atchison. We serve all residents that live or work in Atchison County in need of food assistance. As First Christian Church provides us storage space for setup and distribution at no charge and we have no paid staff, over 95% of our contributions will go to purchase food for the food-insecure residents of Atchison County this year. We distribute food biweekly in a drive-through distribution. Feeding America, a national organization, indicates than more than 2,100 of Atchison County's population live in households that earn less than 185% of the poverty line, and are considered food insecure. Our 21 regular volunteers donate more than 350 hours monthly to this effort.