Keystone mobile pantry helps those in need

Lines at Keystone’s mobile food pantry delivery are getting longer.
“The numbers are growing,” says organizer Mike Proios, who partners with six different local food outlets to bring needed items to both Keystone and Hill City.
Proios began this in 2019 and has seen a steady rise in how many people he serves and the food he receives. For example this week last year he had 46,100 pounds of food on his truck to deliver. This year he was at 103,146 pounds.
Proios weighs each box on his truck and categorizes them, from dry goods to meats to household items. He then reports those numbers to the state.
He deals with the managers of various markets like Target.
“Anything they’re going to throw out they give to me,” he said. This week he had flowers to hand out to not only food recipients but to volunteers.
“So many of these women don’t get flowers,” he said.
He doesn’t want the experience of being in line for food to be humiliating. He wants people to know that he’s “blessing them with love.”
As an example he holds up a bottle of olive oil.  
“This bottle is likely $20. These people can’t afford that so God is blessing them,” he said.
From his perch in his refrigerated truck Proios asks for weights of various items while he’s instructing others to set aside certain items for his next stop at the Boys and Girls Club. He carefully  thinks about what children may want—things like cookies or fruit snacks —and puts them in separate piles. He reaches out weekly to the Boys and Girls Club’s Roni Prautzsch to see how full or empty her freezer is so he brings just the right amount to fill it.
On the ground volunteers scramble to fill 75 boxes with meats, breads, vegetables and even household items.
“If people don’t come get this food it would get thrown out,” said volunteer Kathy Saulton. Saulton has been volunteering with the mobile food pantry for about a year and a half.
She likes the idea of passing out the food for the people.
“I think there’s a real need. You can see it when the people start to line up,” she said.
She also notices that each week there are more and more cars in line.
“Some weeks, like the week before Thanksgiving, cars were backed up on the road,” she said.
Saulton said she gets to know the other volunteers and their children, who often come to help in the summer.
“It’s fun because they get to run to the boxes as if it’s Christmas,” she said.
Many of the volunteers are from the Keystone Project.
“There’s a joy in doing it. We really love to. It’s important to express our faith in a tangible way that has an effect on our lives,” Rick Greene said.
The effects are tangible.
A woman in line agrees to speak with the promise of anonymity. Even though she knows most of the others in line and those volunteering, she explains the difficulty of coming each week.
“It’s never easy because it’s not just what it’s supposed to be. The American dream, pay your way,” she pauses. “But with us, Social Security isn’t enough. I know I’m just one of a million other people.”
She says that it’s challenging for her and her husband to make it into town each week.
“For me and my husband it’s nice to know we’re not  having to struggle,” she said.
The mobile food pantry helps her get things she needs and even though there are things in the box she receives that she or her husband can’t eat she “won’t let anything go to waste. I’ll give them to my neighbors.”
Those same neighbors  told her about the  program in the first place. She stresses how wonderful the volunteers have been to her each week.
They  are “so pleasant.  They don’t give you a feeling like you’re imposing,” she said. “I never thought we’d get to this point but we’re here, unfortunately, and we’re really grateful for the help.”
There are  no income qualifications for the food that is distributed. Proios explains he  merely  needs the person’s name and the county they live in before he can hand them a box.
Proios tries to notice the new people who come each week. He also tries to get to know each person’s situation if they are willing. This week he had two large turkeys to distribute. Those he set aside for some larger families he knows will benefit from them.
“If they don’t show up in line I will drop them off where they live,” he said.
The mobile food distribution occurs every Thursday at noon in the parking lot of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, 1014 Madill Street, Keystone. There is no fee for items.
More Information can be found by searching Keystone Mobile Food Pantry on Facebook.