A little more than a week ago, Food Pantry workers showed up to work, and were greeted by a pile of broken glass in front of their store. It wasn’t a burglary, it wasn’t an earthquake. It what may be more disappointing, it seemed as if it were merely an act of boredom. It is believed that a pellet gun had shot out the front window of the food pantry, and it was a big window at that. The window was a thick, exterior piece and it had lettering on it, which was the only means of identifying the food pantry. The cost to repair the damage stood at over $1,000. 

But somewhere on Santa’s Nice List, the Food Pantry’s name was written in bold letters, and two anonymous checks arrived this week, to cover the damage.

“We had a church offer to give us some money, and a contractor that offered his services, and then we got two checks from anonymous sources that paid for the repair,” said Belinda Crawford, head of the Food Pantry.

And the way one of the checks came, was a little surprising. Belinda had taken an opportunity to speak at Golden Oak adult school. She figured that maybe there would be a few people who could use the food pantry’s services there, and so she gave a presentation. A woman taking the class, heard about the story, and gave a check to the principal of the school to forward to the Pantry. She did not want her identity to be known.

Belinda wasn’t fishing for money either. “I was just worried that people would see the window boarded up and think we were closed. We had so many calls from people asking if we had shut down.”

The Food Pantry was open after the incident, but it was difficult to get that message out.

This is the busiest time of year for the Food Pantry, with many families in need of food and basic living essentials.

Belinda, and the whole staff of volunteers at the food pantry wanted to give a big thank you to all of the people and organizations who stepped up to help them. “It is really great to see that we live in a city that is so giving,” said Crawford.