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Tabitha's Way Local Food Pantry held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Saratoga Springs location, conducted by the Point of the Mountain Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday, March 7, 2024.

Courtesy photo

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Over 1,700 people received food assistance at the Tabitha's Way Local Food Pantry location in Saratoga Springs during the month of February.

Courtesy photo

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Kristi Larson, left, and Esme Langarica with Tabitha's Way Local Food Pantry in Saratoga Springs pose with giant scissors at the ribbon-cutting for the new food pantry Thursday, March 7, 2024.

Courtesy photo

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During the course of just one month, in February, Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry‘s new satellite location in Saratoga Springs provided food assistance to 1,747 individuals, illustrating the need for a pantry in that area of Utah County, which is exactly why it was opened.

On Thursday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the new pantry, located at 1509 Commerce Drive, Suite 200. The pantry has been in a soft-opening phase since January and is currently open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but additional days will be added as demand increases. People who are receiving assistance at the new pantry are primarily from Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs and Lehi, with some coming from Herriman and surrounding areas.

“This is an important event, to open a full-time food pantry in that area. Many people have shared with us how happy they are to have a pantry that is so much closer to them,” co-founder Mike Carter said. “Imagine being food insecure and having to drive one to one and one-half hours round trip to get food for your family every week. Also, imagine that you would only go once every two weeks to get two weeks of food at your local food pantry. Most of us would not want to live that far away from our food source, and we like the convenience of dropping by the store two to three times a week if we run out of something or need to pick up something for dinner that night.”

The new satellite location is the third Tabitha’s Way food pantry. The first one, located in Spanish Fork, was founded by Wendy and Jody Osborne in 2010. Carter and Al Switzler opened the pantry in American Fork in 2016, after seeing that there was more need in the area.

The number of people who receive food assistance at Tabitha’s Way sites in northern Utah County has doubled in the past year, according to Carter. This is one of the reasons that the decision was made to open the location in Saratoga Springs.

Carter said the main cause of higher numbers of people needing food assistance is inflation. With higher costs of food, housing, transportation, utilities, medical care and prescriptions, many local residents are finding it more and more difficult to put food on the table, he added.

Currently, a new pantry is being built in Pleasant Grove, which will replace the American Fork location. The new building is expected to be complete in September. A larger building in Spanish Fork also is being renovated for use for the pantry. That one also is expected to be completed around September.