Good Samaritan Food Pantry, Gundersen St. Joseph’s partner on $56,000 grant for energy, safety improvements

The Good Samaritan Thrift Store and Food Pantry has been announced as one of 150 successful recipients of grant funding from the Otto Bremer Trust. The grant will fund improvement projects at the food pantry including a new roof, windows, and a walk-in freezer.

 “This grant will allow us to make improvements that we’ve been thinking about for a few years but didn’t have the financial capacity to do,” says Tom Hotek, president of The Good Samaritan. “Our ability to provide quality food will be greatly improved and our energy bill will be reduced—allowing us to use our donations to provide more food and personal care items to those in need.”

 Grant-writing support was provided by Gundersen St. Joseph’s community relations manager, Dan Howard.

 “When we ran the capital campaign for our new facility, we made a promise that once we were settled, we would turn our attention to working outside of our walls to get upstream of issues that affect population health,” says Howard. “This is one instance of us delivering on that promise, and we’re just getting started.”

 The Good Samaritan serves around 140 households with food each month. According to the grant application, usage of the food pantry increased 23% between 2019 and 2020.

 “We love to see collaboration within our community,” says Kristie McCoic, administrator at Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital and Clinics. “We’re very willing to work with local organizations on projects that help build stronger, healthier and more resilient communities. Dan and Tom’s work was a great success in bringing $56,000 into our community.”

Source: WRJC.com

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