By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
Manna Pantry is on a roll.
What’s more, Canadian County’s emergency food cupboard will roll out the red carpet for its clients this Thanksgiving.
It’s all part of the third annual “Ham Roll” slated Saturday, Nov. 18 at the pantry in the Together We Center, 620 N Cemetery Road in Yukon.
The public can help to support the cause to help feed Canadian County families in need for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We gave out 350 hams last year so I’m thinking it’s going to be probably 500 this year,” Manna Pantry Director Sherri Rogers said. “We’re now helping over 500 families a month.
“We need hams. The community can drop them off. We’re usually here in the mornings from about 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. or noon.”
Hams are easier to store than turkeys because they don’t have to be frozen. They can be kept in Manna Pantry’s large cooler until distribution day.
Manna Pantry’s regular clients will come to the pantry between 1-4 p.m. Nov. 18 to pick up their Thanksgiving hams. Anyone who doesn’t eat pork will receive a turkey.
“They just pull up in their cars,” Rogers said. “But they have to have the ticket to get a ham.”
Manna Pantry’s director referred to this paper ticket, which clients will get in advance inside the store when they come shop for food.
THE NAME STUCK
Manna Pantry’s Ham Roll started three years ago when the nonprofit was still housed inside an 800-square-foot house at 6th and Maple in downtown Yukon.
Rogers explained how this Thanksgiving charity effort got its name.
“We used this conveyer, roll-y thing and we rolled the hams through the store out the door,” she shared. “So, we just called it a Ham Roll.”
Shortly after that inaugural Thanksgiving Ham Roll, the pantry moved across town when it joined Trinity Baptist Church’s new Together We ministry south of N.W. 10th.
The name stuck, although the conveyer is no longer utilized.
Manna Pantry now serves clients across Canadian County at its 2,000-square foot space in the Together We Center.
Hungry individuals and families come get food on Mondays and Thursdays from 5-8 p.m., Tuesdays from 3-6 p.m., and Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
Other food items needed beside Thanksgiving hams include spaghetti sauce, cereal, jelly, and pancake mix and syrup.
For more information, call (405) 265-0193.
