Frisco Family Services Food Pantry Receives its Largest-Ever Donation

Featured Photo: Full-time missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints help unload donation and stock shelves. Photo courtesy of Kristan Miller.

20,000 pounds of food arrived via semi-truck at the doorstep of Frisco Family Services Food Pantry. This donation, provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marks the largest-ever, single-source food donation that the pantry has received in its 25-year history.

Caring for the poor and needy is a foundational belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With over 4,000 members of the Church in Frisco alone, Church leaders wanted to serve the community in a meaningful way. Plans for the donation were announced by Frisco Stake President Kristopher Katseanes at the “Meet Frisco” event that the Church-sponsored on September 28. He told the attendee group of approximately 300 Frisco residents that the Church of Jesus Christ had approved this donation. It all came to fruition as the semi-truck arrived on Thursday, November 7, loaded with 14 pallets of food — perfectly timed in advance of the holiday season.

With so much food to move from the semi-truck to the food pantry, several volunteers were needed to help. Jon Kendall, Director of Public Affairs for the Church in the Frisco area, led the donation effort. Because it was such a large donation, he knew a forklift was needed and had access to one but didn’t have a trailer with which to transport it. In looking for a trailer, he visited Six & Mango. When they learned why he needed a trailer, David Six, the owner, volunteered everything needed — a forklift, a trailer, delivery of the forklift, and a driver. Ricky Jaquez of Six & Mango came to Frisco Family Services and made quick work of unloading all of those 14 pallets.

Fourteen members of the Church also participated in the delivery of this historic donation. This included President Taylor Frederickson, First Counselor in the Frisco Stake Presidency, five other leaders and members of the Church who organized the effort, and eight full-time volunteer missionaries serving in the area. They unloaded boxes and put food right onto empty shelves. Dara Sandland, who helped organize the delivery, said, “It was so exciting to see the pallets broken down and loaded directly onto bare shelves.”

These Church members were thrilled to be a part of this ground-breaking donation to Frisco Family Services, Frisco’s only community Food Pantry. For 25 years, Frisco Family Services has helped members of Frisco and Frisco ISD communities who are facing hunger, homelessness, and other urgent needs to improve their quality of life and achieve self-sufficiency. Frisco Family Services had 580 visits impacting almost 1,000 residents just last month. The donation from the Church of Jesus Christ is filling those shelves back up. Keri Keck, Client Services Director for Frisco Family Services, shared, “This will go a long way in helping those dealing with a crisis, especially at this upcoming holiday season. This will absolutely be a blessing to many. The impact this donation will have will be far-reaching. This is beautiful.”

Donated items delivered to Frisco Family Services included chili, black beans, green beans, instant potatoes, diced tomatoes, peaches, peanut butter, pancake mix, cake mix, flour, macaroni noodles, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, and hot cocoa.

The donation came directly from Welfare Square, located near Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. Welfare Square is the largest concentration of Church-owned welfare facilities. Buildings include a cannery, a milk processing plant, a bishops’ storehouse, a thrift store, an employment center and silos where wheat and other grains are stored.