Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri's "Client-Choice Food Pantry" will open soon.
The pantry is unique. It's laid out like a grocery store, in which clients may select the items they wish.
The items they know they'll use.
Very much like any shopping experience, folks who participate in the pantry will use a shopping cart and select items from shelves, bins or refrigerators.
The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri is scheduled to make its first food delivery to the pantry within the next few days.
That will help the pantry get all its shelves fully stocked, said Lori Still, the nonprofit's food programs coordinator.
The plan is to have a sort of soft opening over the next couple of weeks, focusing on nearby neighborhood residents, then possibly holding a formal opening later.
Most of what is in the pantry now came to the nonprofit through a one-for-one food drive the Food Bank did in December or a partnership against hunger drive in November, said Dan Lester, executive director of the local Catholic Charities.
Some may have come from "grocery store rescue," a program in which pantries go to local grocery stores and ask for donations of products that are nearing their expiration dates, or are overstocked.
The pantry uses "SmartChoice" food pantry software to track products on its shelves. Clients sign up one time and receive a card with a QR code, which they may use to sign in during each shopping trip. Those codes, and codes on products, help pantries maintain records of inventory. They also help pantries decide what products to offer, Lester said.
Pantries may not wish to carry products that customers don't want.
Customer may also use their accounts to go online and order items in the pantry, that volunteers can gather for curbside pickup.
The pantry also includes a large walk-in refrigerator and a large walk-in freezer, which customers may access through reach-in doors on the "shopping side," just like grocery stores.
When planning the pantry, advice organizers received said -- space, space, space.
Get as much storage space as you can -- for refrigerated and frozen items, Lester said.
When the pantry is open in the offices of the nonprofit, at 1015 Edmonds St., it will offer hours of 4-7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday and Saturday.