Stationary Food Pantry Opens

More than one in seven people in Isabella County struggle with food insufficiency. Community Compassion Network (CCN) is a charitable organization with an ecumenical outreach, dedicated to feeding and caring for the hungry with dignity and equity. CCN was founded by Mt. Pleasant Community Church and rapidly grew into a community-wide, charitable organization.

CCN provides supplemental food to individuals and families in need. The organization has been hosting mobile food trucks every two weeks, serving approximately 225 families each time. Forty percent of those who come to the CCN mobile food trucks are over 60-years-old and have worked their entire lives, but their social security is no longer sufficient to cover food, rent, heat and medication. In addition to the mobile food trucks, CCN packs 600 bags of weekend food for local children in partnership with Isabella County schools. While there are several small food pantries that serve portions of Isabella County, CCN is the only pantry that serves residents county-wide with the only requirement being that guests meet USDA poverty guidelines.

A grant from the Community Impact Fund and W. Sidney Smith and Judith French Smith Family Fund in late 2017 helped CCN to open and stock a stationary food pantry that opened in January, 2018. Based on their history with stationary pantries, CCN anticipated serving almost one and a half times the number of families served by the mobile trucks. Grant dollars were used to purchase food through the Greater Lansing Food Bank, a regional affiliate of Feeding America, at twelve cents per pound. The CCN stationary pantry is now open four days a week, approximately four hours per day, and is located at 1114 West High Street in Mt. Pleasant.