ALTON - Local Pampered Chef consultants banded together to provide a donation to The Salvation Army.
On Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, The Salvation Army (TSA) received canned goods and a $3,200 donation from Pampered Chef. Gloria Vaughn, who oversees the TSA food pantry, noted that it’s more important than ever to help out the community.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“Even though Alton is a small town, there are a lot of people that need assistance out here,” Vaughn said. “That is the purpose of The Salvation Army, to walk with Christ and to try to reach and embrace as many people as we can, to take that insecurity away from them, to make them comfortable with how life is going.”
According to Vaughn, TSA’s food pantry serves around 300 people a month. They’ve seen a 20% increase in clients in recent months because of the rising costs of groceries.
Michelle Anderson, a consultant with Pampered Chef, helped organize a fundraiser along with Robin Blackerby, Kathy Gleason, Beth Hill, Terri Rexing, Dellonie Tuggle and Lori Warford. The consultants explained that they hosted a quarter auction earlier this year to collect money and nonperishable food items for TSA’s food pantry. Each woman donated Pampered Chef items to be auctioned off in the quarter auction.
“We decided that we wanted to do something that would actually impact our local community,” Anderson said. “We saw the power of what, if we came together, we could do in just a couple of hours.”
The consultants also sold soup mixes, and Pampered Chef donated ten meals to Feeding America for every mix sold. They ultimately donated about 3,000 meals to Feeding America, to be served in local communities.
The women said that God is their motivation for coming together to host the quarter auction fundraiser. They noted their excitement to donate to TSA and help the community.
“This is a group of people that in a different situation, a different company, would all be competitive with each other,” Gleason added. “We’re all out there doing the same job, and yet we come together as a family ourselves. This is a group that works together to support each other.”
The Salvation Army food pantry is open from 9–11 a.m. on Tuesdays and 1–3 p.m. on Thursdays. If you are experiencing food insecurity, read this article on RiverBender.com for more resources.
More like this:
