The Kid’s Pantry started out with two moms of multiple children trying to find a way for their family budgets to go further while reusing children’s clothes. What began as a small closet in the church nursery with a few clothes and toys has grown into a warehouse sized space where we process weekly donations and allow visitors to receive what their families need. Along with that, we hold semi-annual giveaways where we fill the church gym and a large tent with thousands of items to give away free to families. We know times are tough and every little bit we can give to help means a family can use that money on food and bills to keep their children well.  We reach out to the schools, social workers, and pregnancy support groups to help the people that need it the most. We don’t require any proof of hardship, our goal is to help people out and not demean them by making them prove that they need help. We do require a photo ID when visiting the pantry for any event. We also suggest a donation of $5 to help with our operating costs although we would never turn anyone away who could not donate. We are quickly outgrowing our current location and hope to one day have a warehouse where we can process, store, and have the Kid’s Pantry open for all to visit. Our giveaways continue to grow each season and we hope to continue to help more families each time.

A little about our team:

Jodi Bechtold (co-founder) is a mother of five children ranging from middle school and her oldest in college.  Jodi handles meetings with community partners to grow The Kid’s Pantry, managing the Facebook page, does pick ups,  and the daily work of sorting through all the donations.

Stephanie Johanson (co-founder) is a mother of four children ranging from grade school to her oldest in high school. Stephanie handles The Kid’s Pantry email, doing pickups, meeting with community partners to grow The Kid’s Pantry, and the daily work of processing the donations.

Amber Handler (administrator/weekly volunteer) is a mother of two children, a preschooler and third grader. Amber handles written correspondence with community partners, treasury, large item requests, and processing the donations that come in.

Heather Dymond (greeter/volunteer coordinator/weekly volunteer) is a mother of eight children ranging from toddler through high school. Heather contacts local businesses for support for The Kid's Pantry, contacts local schools for donations of unclaimed lost and found as well as school supplies, answers The Kid's Pantry phone calls, does pickups, and processing the donations that come in.

We also have dozens of volunteers that give their time throughout the year, especially during the semi-annual giveaways. Without our volunteers The Kid’s Pantry could not thrive.