Community Outreach runs the local food pantry, offers other assistance to those in need and operates Finders Keepers resale shop. 

Finders Keepers helps provide some cash to pay for the overhead and other costs. Unfortunately, the shop has been closed for the past year due to COVID-19 concerns. 

The pandemic has created a heavy load for the food pantry to bear. 

Christy Angell, the director of Community Outreach, says the loss of income from the resale shop could not have come at a worse time. 

With a solid base of volunteers, Angell and her crew have been able to keep most of the area’s hungry fed. 

Supplies are running low in a few key areas and donations of the following items would be appreciated: Tuna or other canned meats, macaroni and cheese, canned fruit, mashed potato mix, pancake mix and syrup, peanut butter and jelly, sloppy joe sauce, spaghetti sauce, canned pasta meals, ketchup and mustard, chicken and beef broth, and cream of mushroom or chicken soups. 

The pantry could also use egg cartons. 

Any of these items can be dropped off during operating hours which are Friday and Saturday, from 9-11 a.m. 

There is some good news. Finders Keepers will reopen Friday, April 2. Hours will be Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Once the shop is open again, donations of clothing and household items will be accepted. 

Angell says details on the summer lunch program, administered through Community Outreach, will be coming soon.

A box truck owned by the program needs repairs. The board of directors has decided to sell the truck. Details can be picked up at Community Outreach during business hours. Sealed bids will be accepted until Friday, April 16.

With hopefully the worst of the pandemic behind us, Community Outreach is looking for help to make it down the home stretch. 

Community Outreach is located at 17 E. Fourth St., Gerald. They can be reached by phone at 573-764-HELP (4357) or via email at help4U@fidnet.com. Correspondence can be mailed to P.O. Box 336, Gerald, MO 63037.