Volunteers loaded Empty Pantry Fund food baskets and toys from Junior Service League of Maryvilleâs Toys for Blount County early Sunday and set out to deliver a welcome dose of Christmas cheer to homebound Blount County residents in need.
This completes distribution of food and toys, continuing a process begun Saturday when recipients who were able to do so picked up their packages at the Tennessee Army National Guard Armory.
Tony Clark, an Empty Pantry Fund volunteer from boyhood and current EPF treasurer, continued his annual tradition of delivering food and toys Sunday after spending a full day with Saturdayâs distribution â an adaptation to EPFâs normal procedure of delivering all the packages on the Sunday before Christmas.
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Empty Pantry Fund board members and other volunteers werenât quite sure what to expect Thursday when they arrived at the Tennessee Army National Guard Armory for a most untraditional day of packing food baskets. Would there be enough volunteers to pack more than 1,400 baskets? How would the new process, mandated by COVID-19 safety requirements, work?
They didnât have to worry. As EPF President Lon Fox said, âIt was a great day for the Empty Pantry Fund. In the middle of COVID, we didnât let it conquer us â we conquered it.â
Fox, along with EPF Secretary Morgan Hodson and Treasurer Tony Clark, worked the entire day, from before 9 a.m. when the first of three shifts of volunteers came to pack food baskets for less-fortunate Blount County residents until after 7 p.m. when packing was complete.
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