NAMPA, Idaho — Have you heard of "The Traveling Table Mobile Food Pantry?" It serves people in Nampa who may not be able to get to a food bank. The food comes to them. This is a labor of love for the people who make it happen each month. Their mission is food for all.
"People need help, we need to help them. You can't help everybody so that's the sad part, but we do what we can," said "The Traveling Table" board member Ana Moroshan.
The last Wednesday of each month, you'll find Moroshan in Nampa organizing yet another food distribution. She's on the board for "The Traveling Table." It's been in operation for over five years.
"It's kind of like organized chaos, but in the end we get it done and we feed a lot of families," Moroshan said. "We set up here at the Via Nueva Church in the morning on the last Wednesday of the month, and then in the afternoon we head over to the Nampa Housing Authority. The line today is about three blocks deep. There is a huge need, a huge need."
The organization gets food from a variety of sources and from monetary donations.
"We have the food that we have gotten from the Idaho Foodbank, we had some food donated from Salvation Army," Moroshan said.
They pack food boxes for recipients. Getting those boxes into the hands of neighbors in need is the goal. Volunteers are a huge part of it. Local companies, businesses, and schools often step up to help provide volunteers.
"It's always a blessing when we can get people to help out," she said.
Moroshan said being able to give back to other families in this way is personal for her.
"Why do I do this? There are lots of different reasons," she said. "I was raised as the youngest of fourteen kids, my parents were extremely hard working. But, food was not easy to put on the table. You didn't always have the cool stuff that the other kids had at lunch."
She said that she sees people from all walks of life at the pantry distributions. Some of those people are living in their cars.
"When people receive food, we've seen tears," she said. "Especially our senior citizens, that's huge market and they can't get out."
Moroshan and her team said they will keep working hard to make sure their clients have the food they need to get by for the month when things are lean.
"It's a feeling that's hard to describe, but you feel really good just being able to make that little difference. Just to make someone's day, that could be the highlight of their day to say now I don't need to worry about where my next meal is coming from," Moroshan said.
"The Traveling Table" is always in need of cash donations to buy food. You can donate to this mobile food pantry at any time by clicking here.
The next food distribution will be the last Wednesday of July. For more information, go to the nonprofit's Facebook page.
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