Since Roots Church KC, centered around LGBTQ and BIPOC communities, opened in the former Roeland Park United Methodist Church nearly two years ago, Rev. Lora Andrews has received frequent questions about a food pantry.

For years Roeland Park UMC operated a food pantry out of the church at 5110 Cedar St. That operation stopped when the church itself, within the same denomination as Roots Church KC, closed.

“It just kind of kept coming up in conversation with neighbors,” Andrews said. “At some point you switch from is this just a question of association or, you know I’m a pastor so I’m like, OK I think this might be the Spirit.”

Now, after putting a call out to neighbors on Facebook, Andrews and a group of 24 volunteers — 20 of whom are unaffiliated with Roots Church KC — are running a client-based food pantry to serve Roeland Park community members.

Called The Pantry, Andrews said the goal is to serve people who live, work, worship, go to school in or somehow intersect with Roeland Park.

“We wanted to be hyper-local so that we are responsible for each other and really have that relational emphasis,” Andrews said.

Clients choose their own food at The Pantry

In most food pantries across Johnson County, people typically walk in or drive up to the food pantry and receive a pre-set bag of groceries.

The Pantry is more of a shopping experience, allowing clients to use a point system based on the number of people in their household to get a variety of food items or toiletries.

For example, a client who is in a two-person household will receive 30 points to use at The Pantry. Most items like flour, cereal, vegetables, toilet paper are either one or two points each.

Clients should have enough points to feed their households for one to two weeks.

Andrews said client-choice is one of the few requirements Roots Church KC had going into the food pantry operation.

This type of food pantry is modeled after the Hub in Argentine, which is run by the United Methodist Ministry in Kansas City, Kansas.

“We know that this model helps lead to relationships and helps to pick food that our neighbors need,” Andrews said. “Right now, it’s modeled off what is needed (at the Hub), and it’ll look different once we know what our neighbors here want and need.”

The Pantry is open on the first and third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with fresh breakfast courtesy of a volunteer for shoppers who are waiting.

The Pantry is a product of community collaboration

Before becoming The Pantry, the space on the north side of Roots Church KC served as the previous church’s offices, but was sitting empty since the new congregation took over.

Andrews said it took 160 volunteer hours to get the space ready to become The Pantry, including 16 volunteers from Lowe’s nearby who painted the space and installed new flooring.

The Pantry itself is a product of not only the 160 volunteer hours, but a call to the Roeland Park community to help a new, young church revive a beloved food pantry.

Andrews, after receiving questions about reopening the food pantry, said the church put a call in a Roeland Park Facebook page to see if any community members might be interested in helping out.

“It’s been this collaborative thing that we never could’ve done on our own as the church,” Andrews said.

The Pantry also connected with the Roeland Park community garden, which now has gardens behind the food pantry space that can support the community.

For Andrews, the collaboration it took to create the food pantry tells her a lot about Roeland Park, and taught her to trust that the community wants to help each other.

“Not everywhere do your businesses and your city and your neighbors and your church come together without the ego of saying, ‘well it has to be this,’” Andrews said. “No, it’s like let’s get this done together. I think the collaboration that’s happening in the city is cool.”

How to get involved

The Pantry is open to adding to its volunteer cohort, Andrews said.

Food donations are always accepted, but Andrews said the best way to contribute to the food pantry is through a monetary donation.

This allows The Pantry and its volunteers to buy food that clients want and may even come to depend on being in stock at the Roeland Park food pantry.

Those interested in volunteering with The Pantry or donating can find out more online here.

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