Churches collecting for food pantry

A group of area churches are coming together to help the Niles Salvation Army fill its barren food pantry.

Greg Rensberry, pastor of Mapleview Free Methodist Church, said he hopes the community will join in the effort.

“We just want to get food to the pantry to bless the community and help out with the seasonal shortage,” he said.

Rensberry said he learned that the Salvation Army’s pantry was dangerously lacking in food at a meeting of a group of Niles pastors this month. At that time, the pastors decided to help out by spreading the word to the members of their respective churches.

They plan to collect non-perishable food items at the Church of Niles service July 27 at Mapleview Free Methodist Church, 1831 Niles-Buchanan Rd., Niles.

Anyone wanting to help out can bring an item to the service or simply donate directly to the Niles Salvation Army, 424 N. 15th St., Niles.

Jan Nowak, director of caring ministries at the Salvation Army, said the pantry has already distributed all the food collected from the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive in May — the largest one-day food drive in the nation.

“I have never been at this critically low a level at this time of the year,” she said. “I am so grateful for the churches that are coming together to help us out.”