The Forney Food Pantry is an asset to the Forney community and has been for decades. Throughout the many economic highs and lows over the last twentyplus years, this organization has had the opportunity to ensure one of life’s most basic needs – access to nourishing food – for countless men, women, and children.
Current President of the Forney Food Pantry, Connie Ingersoll, recounts moving to Forney and getting involved with this endeavor.
“I arrived in Forney Texas when I married my husband, Dale Ingersoll, in May of 1999. This was a small quaint town that I moved to from the Los Colinas area in Irving, Texas. I was amazed with the genuine compassion of the local people that I met here in Forney. They went out of their way to make sure that I was welcomed in Forney,” she remembers. “I decided that I wanted to spend my time volunteering at a charity that had a great need for my help. At the time the charity was called the ‘New Life Food Pantry’.”
Connie goes on to explain that New Life Food Pantry was located inside the old city jail, a space which has now been sold and renovated to accommodate Eno’s Pizza Tavern in downtown Forney. The director at the time she began serving was Lee Lunsford, who also pastored Trinity Church in Talty.
A few years after New Life Food Pantry became Forney Food Pantry, Lunsford retired and Ingersoll was elected President of Forney Food Pantry, with Taressa Adams being Vice-President and in charge of weekly operations.
Since 2016, Ingersoll and Adams, along with countless volunteers and much community support, have continued this operation, growing it to also encompass a partnership with Forney ISD which provides backpacks filled with food for children living in foodinsecure homes to ensure they have access to food over the weekends. Additionally, with the recent economic hardships faced by most of the nation over the past few years, the Forney Food Pantry has continued to provide its services for qualifying residents living in this area.
Now Forney Food Pantry needs the community’s help. As always, food and monetary donations are accepted. But the Food Pantry is facing a dilemma.
Following relocation to a new building when the old city jail was sold to Eno’s, Forney Food Pantry was blessed with the opportunity to operate out of its current facility rent-free for five years. Following those five years, a rent payment was instated, one which has increased a couple of times over the past several years. Now, the Food Pantry is facing another rent increase, a common theme for commercial and residential renters alike, as costs for everything from groceries to building maintenance continue to rise.
The plea from the Forney Food Pantry is this: the Pantry either needs to see a significant increase in donations to remain at its current location, or it needs to secure another more affordable place to run its operation.
The Forney Food Pantry became a registered 501(c) (3) non-profit organization in November of 2011 and has continued to operate on donations over these last 12 years. “The Pantry has never been financed in any form by the government,” Connie shares. “We are not a profit-motivated enterprise, and our donations are low, which directly corresponds with the economy. Please, Forney, we need your help.”
If you have information to share with the Forney Food Pantry, or if you would like to make a donation of any kind, visit their website at www.forneyfoodpantryinc. org, call the Food Pantry directly at (972) 552-2011, or stop by the Forney Food Pantry at 222 Industrial Way to find out how to support this vital part of our community.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.