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CASSOPOLIS — A local nonprofit’s food pantry is moving to a new home.

Thanks to an offer from Gerry Bundle and the Cass County Transportation Authority Board of Directors – led by Board Chairperson Kevin Anderson – Helping Hands of Cass County will be moving its Food Pantry and help Services Desk to 408 E. State St.  

“We expect to be serving our neighbors from the new pantry by July 23,” said Helping Hands President Joan Murphy. “We will continue to serve as a distribution site for SWMAA TEFAP and Senior Commodities at the back of the Broadway location.”

“This new location will allow us to better serve our neighbors,” added Pastor and Helping Hands Board Member Jeff Oliver. “In a survey, we learned that many of our neighbors were not aware of services available to them in Cass County, having difficulty applying for services and/or experiencing transportation issues. We will kick off our Human Services Help Desk to help connect our neighbors to existing agencies and organizations.  We will operationalize the ‘choice’ model at the State Street location.  This approach will allow our neighbors to select the basic food and personal items that they need.”

The pantry has been piloting the “choice model,” which allows community members the opportunity to select the food and personal care items that they need and use. 

“Our goal is simply to connect the right people with the right resources,” said Brandon Anderson, an Americorps worker assigned to Helping Hands.

Helping Hands is seeking additional volunteers to transition to the new location and operate the pantry. Those interested are asked to send a message indicating your interest to helpinghandshelp.info@gmail.com.