The Kalkaska Baby Pantry, located inside Kalkaska Church of Christ, reopened its store on Sept. 22.
Volunteer Kim Stephens says, “We’re excited to see how many new people will be coming in and also the clients that we had come back.”
The pantry has everything from clothes to shoes, hygiene products, formula, and food.
“Everything we give here at the pantry is absolutely free,” Stephens says. “There is no money exchanged. When the clients come in they are gifted the items that they receive.”
The nonprofit closed their store in January due to scheduled renovations in the church.
“We were in a smaller room, the church went under a new remodeling for our kids area and they gifted us with a room that is double the size that we were in before,” Stephens says. “That has been an amazing gift.”
When the pandemic hit in March, they had to close their shop until further notice.
“We build a relationship with a lot of the families that come in here so of course we were worried about them and making sure that they had everything that they needed,” Stephens says.
Despite the challenge, the pantry still wanted to help their families.
Volunteer Mickie Castle says, “We called the health department and found out what the protocols were and if we could pass out diapers…They told us as long as we wore gloves and masks. They preordered the diapers they pulled up in front of the church, we took them out so that nobody was exposed.”
Now that the pantry is open and ready for clients, they are still taking precautions to keep everyone safe.
“We’re limiting the amount of people that will be in the room at a time,” Stephens says. “We’re following all the protocols with the hand sanitizing, face masks and making sure that everyone is safe while they’re here.”
The Kalkaska Baby Pantry is accepting donations of clothes for newborns through 4T. You can find more information on the pantry .
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