Riesbeck's Food Market's Shadyside location's store lead Mary Habig, on left and Shadyside Fellowship Food Pantry director Erica Thomas

SHADYSIDE – Riesbeck’s Food Market and Shadyside Fellowship Food Pantry have teamed up to provide goods to residents in need.

The two organizations are selling pre-packed bags for $5 and $10 at the Riesbeck’s Shadyside location from now until April 18.

The pre-packaged bags are filled with various food products that will provide a meal for families in need.

When customers check out, there will be signage at the register informing them that the pre-packaged bags are available to purchase and explaining that the food will be going to the food pantry.

Food Pantry Director Erica Thomas said donation programs like this help provide different types of items for the residents in need.

“We do a lot of fundraising and food drives to help supplement what we order from but the Mid Ohio Food Collective is where we get a majority of our food from, and we pay for most of it. I think a lot of people think that we get stuff for free. We get some stuff for free, but a lot of it we pay for,” she said. “We depend on fundraising, and we depend on food drives. The food drives are a great opportunity for us to get different items. A lot of the stuff that we order is the same stuff every single month, and we have a lot of the same clients that come month after month. So it’s always nice when we get a food drive, because we always get different stuff that we don’t normally have.”

Thomas added that the drive allows the community members who regularly use the pantry to have items that are normally not available.

“We really do depend on food drives and we depend on our community when we do things like this and we ask for help, we have such a great community here. They always answer and they always come out in support like today,” Thomas said. “They just started selling these this morning and we’ve already sold seven bags.”

She thanked the community for its continued support.

“I also want to thank Riesbeck’s workers because they are the ones packaging all of the bags up. So I just want to make sure that we thank them for their support and their hard work,” Thomas said. “And then on April 18, we will actually be here with volunteers to get people excited, and then actually taking the stuff and physically putting it in a truck to show that we’re filling this truck up to see how much we’ve got. So that’ll be kind of a big day.”

Thomas added that she got the idea from St. Clairsville Food Pantry volunteer Ashley Spencer when the Riesbeck’s St. Clairsville location teamed up with the St. Clairsville Food Pantry.

“Ashley [Spencer] sort of facilitated this by working with [Riesbeck’s Food Market co-president] Brian Riesbeck and he jumped on board right away. She really helped me figure all of this out,” Thomas said. “This makes it very simple for the community to donate. They are able to give back without having to do any of the work. They just purchase it when they check out, and then the employees set the bags aside, and we’ll come and pick up the bags.”

The pantry is open every third Thursday of the month from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and is located at 3838 Lincoln Ave.

To be eligible to receive items from the pantry you must be village residents or have a child enrolled in Shadyside Local School District.