Prairie Grove 24/7 Emergency Food Pantry

11/26/2025

The Balanced Body Emily Garrett LMT collected food and hygiene products for the pantry and dropped them off. She's awesome and we are so thankful for the support and the way she gives back to the Prairie Grove Community.

11/25/2025

Thank you to the Sky Hill Homemakers Club in Canehill for making simple, easy meal bags including recipes, for the Pantry!

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11/24/2025

A friend saw the post about us having lots of dried beans at the pantry that are usually not taken, and she cooks beans often, so she went by and picked up some bags and cooked them yesterday to put at the pantry this morning. They will be there around 7 am today (Monday) . Please only take a container or two and leave some for others.

11/23/2025

Toilet paper is a good item to donate to the pantry. It's a basic necessity, but not covered by welfare assistance. We do not accept donations of clothing and household items, but toilet paper, soap, shampoo and laundry detergent are very appreciated.

11/23/2025

The pantry is open for anyone to use to take a little bit of food when they need it. That's what it's for! But please do not take things out of the meal kits that have been put on the shelves and leave behind a mess. People in our community have worked hard to purchase items to make & assemble little meal kits and print out the recipe to go with it. If you do not need the whole meal kit, please just take single items off the shelf rather than disassembling the meal kit and leaving the recipe behind. There's no reason for this.

11/22/2025

It can be easy to think you can't make a difference, but you can. Just be the one who sees.

✨Be the one who sees.✨
Sixteen years ago I had to count every single penny I spent. I had to keep a tally in my head while shopping. I would stand there and add things up over and over and over. There was this time during the holidays when I was shopping at Trader Joe's because way back then they had the most gluten free food and I had a toddler newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and I stood in the frozen aisle adding everything up.

I was over. And back then, when I was over, I couldn't just check out. I didn't want my card declined so the smallest edge over couldn't happen. So I looked through everything trying to figure out what to put back. I kept everything everyone else would have loved - but put back the one thing I loved. It was a simple frozen package of chicken tamales. But that package was what put the total over.

I hated that feeling. Of not being able to afford that $3.29 package of tamales. But that was life and I moved on and forgot about it. It was what I did.

That night our doorbell rang.

It was odd because it was extremely cold and it rang at 8:30. I went to the door, opened it, and on my front steps were bags of food. Food from Costco and Trader Joes.

And on the top of the first bag I saw were those chicken tamales.

The same kind hours before I had put back.

So simple, yet such a profound life-changing moment.

Friends.

I cannot describe the tears, the feeling of realizing that even in my aloneness I wasn't alone. The feeling that I mattered. The feeling of gratitude.

It is seeing.

I still have no idea who put all of that food on my doorstep. My kids were so excited about all the goodies. I was humbled knowing that even the little things mattered. And whether or not you believe in God like I do, in that moment I knew I was not alone.

Chicken tamales mattered.

So ever since then, that moment, I've made it a point to be the one who sees. To be the one who doesn't chalk things up to coincidence. To see the one struggling. To notice the mom counting groceries in the corner of the store. To smile. To see.

Be one who sees.

Be the one who sees the hurting and gives.
Be the one who sees beyond the shadows and loves.
Be the one who sees the lost and shows up.
Be the one who sees the bags of food for sale for others and buys them.

We need a world of seeing.

We really need a world of seeing in the holidays. It's so easy to be so busy and to miss the power of seeing.

See.

Change a life.

~Rachel

11/22/2025

Just a reminder that Jose’s annual turkey give away for families in need will be this SUNDAY from 1-5pm while supplies last. Pick up on patio side. No questions asked. No judgments. Just help. That’s how we roll. One per family/vehicle. Jose’s in Tontitown.

11/21/2025

This community has been extra awesome the last few days with donations and the emergency food pantry is well stocked. (Please only take what you absolutely need) — Rick

11/19/2025

We are averaging about 18-20 people per day at the pantry, with about 4-5 of those donating and the rest are stopping by for food. Food insecurity does exist in our community and even though the government shutdown is over, the need is still very much there and this is actually not much higher than the number of people we were already seeing stopping at the pantry before the government shutdown. While organizing the pantry Saturday afternoon, I spoke with 4 people who stopped by for food just during a 2 hour time frame (to give you an idea) .
Thank you so much to those of you who shipped hygiene products via the Amazon wishlist Jennifer C made-- we received so many great donations of soap and shampoo and feminine hygiene products, etc.

11/16/2025

11/14/2025

11/14/2025

A few items always welcome at the pantry : peanut butter, jelly, canned meat, canned fruit, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, feminine hygiene products, powdered or boxed shelf-stable milk, tuna, Tuna Helper, spaghetti and sauce, shelf-stable protein drinks /Ensure, crackers, beef jerky, kid-friendly easy to prepare foods like Chef Boyardee and Easy Mac.

* I've seen the viral Facebook post that says everyone donates mac and cheese and peanut butter, but that's not true in our experience. Peanut butter is more expensive and does not get donated very often but is a good source of protein and a jar makes multiple meals. Macaroni and cheese is a good choice to donate because one box can feed several people. Ideally, purchase the one that has the cheese sauce in it, so they do not need milk to prepare it with, but all Mac and cheese is welcome.