By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
A food drive this Sunday will highlight the mission of a late Yukon resident who endeavored to help feed others – no questions asked.
Jacob’s Cupboard will present the 14th Annual “Jacob’s Moxie Drive” from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 10 at Vacca Creamery & Coffeehouse, 10 West Main – Suite 120.
“Come eat cake while listening to live music,” said organizer Shelli Selby. “Or just drop off food.”
The entertainment will start at 4 p.m. with the West Metro Church Praise Team followed at 5 p.m. with the Smokin’ Oaks band.
Sunday’s celebratory event will feature a food collection drive.
Attendees are asked to bring non-perishable food and donations for Jacob’s Cupboard, a Main Street food pantry started by Yukon’s Bart and Shelli Selby in honor of their late son Jacob.
The mission of Jacob’s Cupboard is to “nourish souls one bite at a time” and provide food to people who need it.
“We’re a ‘no-questions-asked’ food pantry,” said Shelli Selby, Yukon’s mayor.
Housed inside West Metro Church on Route 66 in Yukon, Jacob’s Cupboard serves people across Canadian County.
“We are open on Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m.,” Selby said. “Since Manna Pantry moved and Yukon Sharing is closed on Wednesday, we felt we needed to have something open on that day downtown.”
The founding date of Jacob’s Cupboard – Sept. 13, 2010 – was the first birthday after Jacob’s death.
Jacob Selby, a 2004 Yukon High School graduate, would be celebrating his 35th birthday.
‘GOD TELLS US TO GIVE’
Moxie means “gutsy” – and his mother explained Jacob truly was “gusty”.
“As a child, Jacob was in a Stage Door play in which one of the lines the father says was, ‘You’ve got a lot of moxie, kid’. That line always stuck with him.”
Jacob would literally give homeless people the “shirt off his back” – and money – while he was working at a downtown Oklahoma City law office.
“He would always say, ‘God tells us to give’,” Shelli Selby shared. “’How others decide to use those gifts is between them and God’.”
Jacob’s Cupboard receives no government funding – so events like this annual Moxie Drive are critical.
“We rely solely on contributions so everything we get is from people donating,” Selby said.
Oftentimes people who seek food make too much money according to federal guidelines, she added.
“We want to help the ‘working poor’,” Selby said. “That is a lot of who we serve. We don’t ask people to fill out forms; we don’t even need to know their name.”
Anyone who needs nourishment is invited to Sunday’s Moxie Drive in Yukon where they will receive food.
Visit westmetro.org to give. People seeking help should contact Jacob’s Cupboard through their Facebook page or by texting (405) 684-1381.
