Provided photo Shelves of food at the St. Vincent DePaul food pantry, were collected by volunteers from Keweenaw Indivisible

HOUGHTON – Hunger doesn’t take a holiday, and neither did local community members this season. Volunteers from Keweenaw Indivisible collected more than 12 shopping carts full of food to support St. Vincent de Paul’s food pantry to help those in need this season.

Keweenaw Indivisible organized a food drive on Nov. 22, Tadych’s Marketplace to collect food to benefit St. Vincent de Paul’s food pantry in Hancock. By the end of the day, more than a dozen grocery carts were filled and delivered to the St. Vincent de Paul pantry.

More than 20 volunteers worked in shifts at the store’s entrance, distributing over 400 shopping lists highlighting the pantry’s most-needed items, including peanut butter, meaty soups, and canned pasta. Shoppers were able to purchase items and drop them off directly at the group’s collection table.

St. Vincent de Paul’s serves anyone in need from southern Houghton county to Baraga to Ontonagon. Their food pantry supplies were low due to the recent government shutdown and cuts to SNAP benefits. St. Vincent’s is currently helping twice as many families as usual, so this food drive came at a crucial time of need according to a Keweenaw Indivisible press release.

“Around late August and early September, I looked at our shelves, and they were getting very bare. I was very concerned about making it through to our Can-a-thon in December,” Said Vicky of St. Vincent De Paul’s. “The food drive came at a very good time and helped get us through a lean time of the year, providing hundreds of pounds of food. It helped us out tremendously. People have been more than generous this season, including financially, which really helps us because we help people with utilities bills, and people are hurting right now.”

Keweenaw Indivisible encourages community members to continue supporting local food pantries throughout the winter season.

Keweenaw Indivisible is a recently formed chapter of Michigan Indivisible. Keweenaw Indivisible coordinates and mobilizes its members to inform the local community of the activities of concern of the current administration, and encourages elected officials to speak up in support of U.S. citizens who are being impacted by the plethora of executive actions.