Food Bank of Lincoln’s mobile pantry adds routes in rural areas

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Food Bank of Lincoln’s mobile pantry is expanding its routes to include stops in rural areas.

The pantry is equipped to serve one hundred households per stop and with four new stops being added, dozens more will have fresh food.

Vice President of Operations and Impact Alynn Sampson says many people didn’t know the service was free.

“We did a lot of outreach to these communities to know what are the access points, where we are lacking and where are kind of the most food insecure individuals and that’s really what we need as community feedback,” Sampson said.

Overall, Sampson says the feedback from the community has been positive.

“When we’re talking about seniors who have some mobility issues being brought right to their own neighborhood is really a great thing,” she said.

The food bank is currently piloting the service in towns like Belvidere, Davenport, and Auburn among other towns that previously had no access to distribution centers.

“This can store up to 2,000 pounds of food, so our idea is to get them milk, eggs, meat, lots of fresh produce,” Sampson said. “Sometimes we’ll have bread and baked good items.”

Sampson said people can call the food bank to find out when the mobile pantry will be stopping in their town.

“Our hope is that if this goes well, we can increase the number of towns that we’re going to, so the potential is there to grow,” she said.

More information can be found at LincolnFoodBank.org.