Leaders of the Mission Community Food Pantry say their goal is no one goes hungry, making it the kind of operation they hope goes out of business one day.
But in the past five years, the Mission Community Food Pantry at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Mission has significantly grown from serving 49 families at its first-ever distribution in October 2020 to regularly serving 170 to 180 families twice a month in 2025.
Started by community members Suzie Gibbs and Lynn Kring, the food pantry served 5,468 individuals across 1,515 families in its first full year of distribution, compared to 14,125 individuals across 4,035 families in 2024. Leaders expect end-of-year numbers in 2025 to increase by approximately 10%.
Now, the Mission Community Food Pantry is celebrating its five year anniversary — marked by a celebratory dinner on Oct. 22, the exact day of the first distribution in 2020.
“It has been phenomenal to see the support,” said Rhonda Synovec, co-director of the Mission Community Food Pantry and director of family life ministry at Trinity Lutheran.
Synovec said the Mission community, from congregations, local businesses, partnerships and volunteers, are all committed to showing up and serving others.
The food pantry’s reach has grown significantly in past five years
Synovec said that at that first distribution, the Mission Community Food Pantry helped 49 families.
Today, at each food distribution on the second and fourth Thursday of each month, the food pantry helps between 170 to 180 families.
“It is wonderful to see that we’ve been able to grow and assist and help more people; that was the goal from the beginning, to make sure people were not going hungry,” Synovec said. “The flip side to that is this: If there’s ever a place that you want to go out of business, it’s food pantries.”
Synovec attributes the food pantry’s ability to stick around for five years to its volunteers who make people feel appreciated and welcomed rather than judged. (The food pantry’s effort to celebrate holidays once a month, including National Bubble Day, also brightens the guests’ day, she said.)
This includes Joni and Frank Bruce, two volunteers who have been involved since the inception of the food pantry.
The Bruces previously helped Gibbs, a founder, with a quarterly food distribution and were interested in helping at Gibbs’ idea for a year-round food pantry.
Frank said he sees himself and his wife as “extremely blessed” as both are in good health in their 80s and live independently in their own home.
“Our responsibility is to do what we can to pass those blessings onto others,” Frank said.
SNAP benefits, furloughs and more cause concerns
Synovec said the food pantry is keeping a close eye on several factors that could potentially impact the volume of its operations.
First is whether the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, is going to be funded in November. (Read more about how local food pantries are preparing for this here.)
Other factors that Synovec said the food pantry is considering include people who are currently furloughed and the rise in the cost of living.
“Nobody knows what this is going to look like; obviously we can’t predict it, but we do believe that in November we’re going to start seeing the results of those factors,” Synovec said.
Longtime volunteers like Frank Bruce are also concerned about what’s to come for the food pantry this month.
“Come along next Thursday, we could have a lot more people who currently exist by using the SNAP system, so that’s right on the doorstep,” Frank Bruce said.
How to help Mission Community Food Pantry
- Synovec said donating food and money are two of the best ways to help the Mission Community Food Pantry at this time.
- “I think we all know that we’re kind of in unprecedented times, as people think about giving this year, just making sure that people understand no one should go hungry,” Synovec said.
- Another option, she said, is to volunteer time.
- Learn more about donating food, time or money online here.
