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JEFFERSON CITY, MO. As Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri (CCCNMO) marks one year of operation for the client-choice model food pantry, they will host two events next week to mark the occasion and invite community members to learn more, sign up for volunteer opportunities, and experience the Catholic Charities Food Pantry with tours.

The first event, an Open House Celebration, will take place Tuesday evening, March 21^st from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM. The event includes light refreshments, live music by 2023 City’s Best musician 2022, David Baker, guided tours, and the opportunity to learn about the impact of the Catholic Charities Food Pantry and visit with Catholic Charities staff. Visitors can RSVP at this link, let us know they’re attending on Facebook, or simply drop-in between 4:00 and 6:30 PM.

On Friday, March 24^th from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Catholic Charities will host its second-annual Community Resource Fair. In addition to setting up pantry memberships, shopping the pantry, and entering drawings to win door prizes, visitors can connect with over 25 local organizations. The resource fair will enable visitors to learn more about local resources in housing, health and mental health, specialty services for those with disabilities and more.

Last year, the community resource fair drew over 150 attendees, one of the largest gatherings of resources in the area since COVID-19 curbed in-person access to enrolling for social services that can assist families with vital care. Both events are free and open to the public.

In the first year of service, the Catholic Charities Food Pantry reached 1,577 households – bringing 4,063 pantry members one step closer to food security. Increasing access to nutritious foods and leveraging the client-choice model to invite pantry members to shop the pantry four days each week sent home over 300,000 pounds of food, reallocating over half a million dollars in grocery money back to family budgets.

You can learn more about the impact of Catholic Charities in our 2022 Impact Report, published online.

We look forward the opportunity to celebrate the incredible work that our staff, community partners – like the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri – and dedicated volunteers have made possible in the last year, and hope to see many of our supporters, pantry members, and local community members who haven’t yet had the chance to see the pantry in action for these celebratory events.

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Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri (CCCNMO), an entity of the Diocese of Jefferson City, responds to the needs of people in 38 counties regardless of faith, culture, or situation. This includes services for refugees and immigrants, those with food insecurity, mental health needs, health and nutrition education, basic household, and shelter needs. For more information, visit cccnmo.diojeffcity.org.