Tales From Utah Valley: Larger food pantry means helping more people
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- Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry opened a new location in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, replacing its smaller American Fork location. The new food pantry is located at 675 W. Garden Drive, Suite 100.
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- Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry’s new location in Pleasant Grove will serve residents in northern Utah County.
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- Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry’s new location in Pleasant Grove will serve residents in northern Utah County.
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- Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry’s new location in Pleasant Grove will serve residents in northern Utah County.
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- Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry’s new location in Pleasant Grove will serve residents in northern Utah County.
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- Laura Giles
During the month of August, 8,200 residents were able to get help with a basic necessity — food — from Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry in American Fork. Another 2,800 were served at the Saratoga Springs location during that month. Now, the American Fork pantry has moved to a new, larger location in Pleasant Grove, making it easier to serve more people.
“Utah County is growing, and so is the need for food assistance. Utah is one of the best places to live in the U.S., so people are moving here. To address a greater need in Utah County, in December 2023, Tabitha’s Way opened a satellite food pantry in Saratoga Springs to be closer to our clients in the northernmost communities of Utah County,” said Mike Carter, one of the pantry founders.
One of the benefits of the recently opened Pleasant Grove location is shorter wait times for clients. Carter said the new Pleasant Grove pantry will decrease wait times significantly because the number of people who can go through the pantry per hour has now doubled.
There is also room for future growth. “This will be a 50- to 75-year building for Tabitha’s Way to serve north Utah County. The American Fork location that was our eight-year home was 9,500 square feet. The new Pleasant Grove location has increased to 15,500 square feet,” Carter said. “With the addition of the Saratoga Springs satellite pantry in December 2023, there will now be 17,000 square feet of pantry space to serve north Utah County.”
All food storage and food sorting for Saratoga Springs happens at the Pleasant Grove pantry, increasing the need for more space in Pleasant Grove. The larger warehouse in Pleasant Grove provides the opportunity to open future satellite pantries closer to where there is need.
The new Pleasant Grove building, located at 675 W. Garden Drive, Suite 100, is owned by Tabitha’s Way. It includes rental spaces for other businesses. According to Carter, Tabitha’s Way is currently conducting a capital campaign to pay off the building completely. Once the building is paid off, Tabitha’s Way will be able to reduce their operating expenses in north Utah County by about 40% from the rent monies coming in and the savings in rent they will not have to pay.
This building program will help ensure a long-term sustainable future for Tabitha’s Way and enable the organization to serve Utah County for decades into the future.
“Our main goal in building the Pleasant Grove building has been to build a Tabitha’s Way organization that is robust enough to serve clients in north Utah County for decades. Since Tabitha’s Way has been open for business, we have seen other pantries in Utah go out of business because they could not find and maintain enough operating space as the need for food assistance has grown,” Carter said.
During 2024, Tabitha’s Way has provided food assistance in north Utah County to more than 10,000 people per month from the American Fork and Saratoga Springs locations. “As the population of Utah County continues to grow, we have to be ahead of the growth. We have to be ready and able to provide these kinds of essential services to those in need in Utah County,” Carter said.
More growth will be happening soon for the pantry’s Spanish Fork location. A larger pantry will be opening there in October or November, which will help fill the food needs of people in southern Utah County.
For more information about Tabitha’s Way, go to tabithasway.org.
