You can help: St. George Exchange Club hosts yard sale to support food pantry for needy families

ST. GEORGE — A yard sale will be held Saturday benefiting one of St. George’s largest private food pantries for needy families.

A Utah Food Bank truck arrives at Solomon’s Porch to provide food for the organization’s weekly “Friday Food Pantry” in St. George, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy Solomon’s Porch, St. George News

The St. George Exchange Club will hold the “Charity Yard Sale” from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 960 N. Dixie Downs Road in support of the weekly “Solomon’s Porch Friday Food Pantry.”

Funds raised from the yard sale support the weekly all-volunteer food donation effort that occurs outside Solomon’s Porch on Black Ridge Drive in St. George helping people in need of food boxes to carry them and their families through the coming week.

“This is our big fundraiser,” the Rev. Jimi Kestin of Solomon’s Porch said, adding that the event also highlights the charity efforts of Solomon’s Porch.

Donations of items to be sold at the event can be made up until 8 a.m. Saturday, after which further donations will be accepted in the form of items sold and cash donations.

Kestin estimates that the Friday Food Pantry helps feed approximately 15,000 people annually.

Volunteers works at Solomon’s Porch to provide food to the needy for the organization’s weekly “Friday Food Pantry” in St. George, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy Solomon’s Porch, St. George News

“We do this every Friday and have been doing it for quite a few years now,” he said. “We’ll do between 50 and 70 food boxes to needy families.”

Watch video top of this report.

The food comes from local grocery stores where food rotated off shelves gets donated through the Utah Food Bank instead of being thrown away.

People receive the donated food based on the size of their family, and no one is turned away as long as they’re in line by Friday at 3 p.m.

One of the pantry’s recipients, Kory Fullerton, said he and his family benefit greatly because he is only working part time and is helping to care for several other people.

“I’m very grateful that they have this opportunity for all of us,” Fullerton said.

Volunteers works at Solomon’s Porch to provide food to the needy for the organization’s weekly “Friday Food Pantry” in St. George, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy Solomon’s Porch, St. George News

Kristen Clark, executive assistant at Switchpoint Community Resource Center, said the center provides a list of resources for individuals in need that includes the Friday Food Pantry.

Switchpoint’s own food pantry is restricted by federal guidelines indicating that food recipients need to fall below 125 percent of the federally recognized poverty level based on income.

As a fully privately funded charity, Solomon Porch’s food pantry is able to provide to anyone, regardless of whether their income would otherwise qualify for service at charitable institutions that receive federal grant money.

The large weekly undertaking runs on the gracious effort of volunteers, including help from missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Additional volunteers are always appreciated, Jimi Kestin said, who can be reached for additional information at 435-669-9070.

St. George News’ Joyce Kuzmanic, Mori Kessler and Mike Cole contributed to this report.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.