Kick-off for Galt UMC Sunshine Food Pantry expansion

October 27, 2022 | by Admin ,Earl Arrants

Galt UMC Pastor Mary Maaga with the architectural renderings for the new expanded Sunshine Food Pantry & Resource Center.

On Friday October 21st the community of Galt came together to kick off a year of fundraising to support the expansion of the Sunshine Food Pantry and community resource center. The pandemic and its impact on the working poor led Galt UMC and its community partners to pursue the possibility of moving the pantry from its current space at Galt UMC and building a freestanding Sunshine Food Pantry & Resource Center in the lot adjacent to the church parking lot.

The kick-off was held at the Cosumnes Fire District Station 45 and hosted by Galt UMC Pastor Mary Maaga and Mark King, Rotary Club President and Chair of the Sunshine Pantry Fundraising Committee. Mark King welcomed guests which included Galt Mayor Shawn Farmer and other community leaders. King presented Supervisor Don Nottoli with the first symbolic brick. Notoli was instrumental in bringing in a $200,000 grant to support construction of the new facility.

Pastor Mary shared, "It's amazing what a group of deeply committed people can achieve. Galt is full of people who care, and the United Methodist Church has given them a way to focus that caring."

The goals of the Sunshine Food Pantry & Resource center are:

Build a sustainable facility that will feed our neighbors, above and beyond what we have been doing.
Create a building that continues to serve the greater community in multiple ways.
Utilize materials and resources that are renewable and recyclable to establish a facility that will support efficiency.
Partner with key community organizations to expand the usefulness of the building

The pantry was established in 2009 after the Galt Elementary School District realized many families were food insecure. The pantry was relocated to Galt UMC in 2011 and expanded to provide perishable foods. At first, the pantry was supplied with donations from individuals and has since expanded to be a part of the Sacramento Food Bank network. Donations are also sourced from Raley’s and Save Mart Super Markets six days a week. They are also a part of a national organization – Feed America – whereby they are given donation credit.

Longtime pantry organizer and volunteer Fay Gaines shared, "We've out grown everywhere we've been."

Sunshine Food Pantry provides free food distribution to all people who come, with doors are open from 8:00 to 10:00am on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Volunteers provide food deliveries to 6 senior home facilities, and some excess items also go to homeless encampments, and farm worker homes.

Click here for more information and how to be a part of the expansion!

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Earl Arrants has served Galt UMC as the newsletter editor for over 60 years.