I am continually amazed by the generosity of the Copper Country community, not just by the people, but also by businesses and organizations. In the past couple weeks, this generosity has shown itself yet again. Here’s the story.

I volunteer with the emergency pantry at The Salvation Army (TSA) Bread of Life Center in Hancock. It is a rewarding experience, but you never quite know when and from where the next food donation will appear. I always seem to be worried about this. Then I got the call. It was Jon Dittmann, Senior Manager at Tadych’s MarketPlace, and they had food to donate, a lot of food. They were in the process of converting to a new food line and eliminating another. Jon did not want the old line of food to go the waste and wanted it stay in the community, if possible.

There has always been a strong relationship between the MarketPlace and The Salvation Army. For example, they offer wonderful “Dinner Bags” for the community to buy ($5.00 or $10.00 bags), and this food is used in the TSA pantry. He contacted me and asked whether we would like this food. Wow! Of course we would, but there was a lot to think about. It was a lot of food. Where to move it? How to move it? Who else could use this food? How to distribute it? Of course, we could not pass on this opportunity. We would make it work and began planning.

We contacted several other pantries in the area to make sure they could benefit from this generous donation. In a matter of a few days, everything started falling into place. The Evangel Community Church, conveniently located across the adjacent parking lot, were happy to let us use their large storage area as a distribution point – Thank You. We contacted Scott Van Norman, owner of Copper Island Movers, and he was available on the day we needed to move the food – Thank You. Members of the Keweenaw Global Methodist Church and Pastor Travis of Evangel volunteered to help transport and distribute the food and household items – Thank You. This all happened on one cold day in the middle of March.

Besides The Salvation Army, seven other pantries/organizations shared in the bounty, including Angel Mission, St. Vincent De Paul, Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, Keweenaw Family Resource Center, 31 Backpacks, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and The Office Store. These groups wish to express their deep appreciation for the generous blessing provided by the MarketPlace.

We at TSA want to thank all involved (the Gazette too!), and especially the MarketPlace for thinking of their community. If others out there have good, safe, nutritious food to share, please give us a call at TSA (906-482-3420) and we’ll come to your “food rescue.”

Mark Plichta

Salvation Army volunteer