Volunteers loading shelves in the TCC food bank.

Community Comes Together to Fill Empty Shelves at the Titus County Cares Food Pantry

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City of Mount Pleasant representatives including Councilwoman Sherri Spruill and Police Chief Mark Buhman participated in the delivery of 26 pallets containing over 38,000 pounds of food to Titus County Cares food pantry by the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints on May 10.

According to Kim Hedges, the Executive Director of Titus County Cares, the pantry has outgrown itself over the years, and is now a non-profit organization that serves 500 families a month in Titus County.

“As you can imagine, in the last few months with the prices of food, we’ve had a hard time getting enough food into our pantry to feed all of our neighbors,” Hedges said in an interview with KLTV.

Volunteers of Titus County Cares with connections in Utah helped bring in the food from Salt Lake City, she said.

“Our church has warehouses in Salt Lake City that’s capable of such things, and we submitted an order, received permission to get the order, and here we are today filling the shelves of this wonderful institution serving Titus County,” added Jack Jones, a local leader of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints in Mount Pleasant.

Jones is one of the volunteers along with Chief Buhman and City Manager Ed Thatcher who helped get the truckload of goods here while the pantry struggled to feed families.

“We acknowledge the wide reach of this food bank and appreciate the tremendous effort to resolve food insecurity throughout our community,” said Jones.  “With this donation, we strive to help care for those in need as we seek to follow the example of Jesus Christ to love our neighbor.”

Before the truck arrived, the pantry did what they could to serve the community without having to turn anyone away.

“We purchased our supplies and staples from East Texas food bank and from Kings storehouse in Tyler, Texas. We had just been making do with our weekly budget until we received these 26 pallets,” said Marketing and Development Director Melissa Moulton.

Volunteer group shot at Titus County Cares food bank.

On hand to assist in the truck’s delivery on May 10 were from left to right:
Mount Pleasant City and The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints leaders Diana Bonney, Jack Jones, Sherri Spruill, Kim Hedges, Melissa Moulton, Kellie Richins, Mark Buhman, and Rob Holliday. Brandon Dodd is in the truck. Not pictured: Mount Pleasant City Manager Ed Thatcher and Mount Pleasant LDS member Joanne Christian.