This story is the first in a series of profiles on local organizations that make a difference in the community.

A significant but not widely-known social service in Pickerington is 20 years old and thriving.

The PCMA Food Pantry of Pickerington is nearly hidden in a small room in the basement of the Pickerington Violet Township Historical Society building, located in Historic Olde Pickerington Village.

Each month, anywhere from 80 to 90 families in the Pickerington School District receive help – several meals – from the pantry, a volunteer organization that has survived successfully with donations from residents.

The optimistic and outgoing volunteer pantry director, Kathy Vogt, is a mother of five kids ages 29 to 14 and a part-time teacher at the Seton Parish Preschool. She has been the director for a year devoting 40 to 45 hours a week, scheduling volunteers, collecting donations, keeping the books and helping during the three 2-hour sessions the pantry serves families each week.

Some important milestones have happened before and during her brief tenure. The pantry, supported by 16 area churches, formed a separate operation with its own 10-member board and became legally recognized as a charitable organization, meaning contributions can be tax deductible. And the pantry’s food purchases are now tax-exempt.

After starting and operating for a year in Trinity United Methodist Church, the pantry was run under the auspices of the Pickerington Christian Ministerial Association (PCMA), which the pantry has kept in its name.

A committee examined the pantry’s operations, which led to the new independent organization. As it was being formed, Vogt, a Pickerington Christian Church member, “just kind of off handedly said, ‘If you can’t find someone (to be director) I can do it,’” she says. Vogt had experience working in a pantry before moving from Pittsburgh five years ago.

“A few days later I got a call,” she says, laughing. “I don’t think they looked very hard.”

In the meantime, the new charitable organization designation quickly landed Meijer as a contributor. It will sell $10 gift cards at its Pickerington store for the pantry to use. The company will match each card sale with a dollar-for-dollar contribution. Kroger was told of the new designation and is expected to include the pantry in its on-going food donation program.

Fairfield Federal Bank also sponsored a pink piggy bank sale to help the pantry. They were sold at the Pickerington Violet Festival, as well. During last year’s holiday season, the pantry sponsored the “Plaza of Lights.” For every $5 donation, the pantry planned to place one light on trees around the plaza outside their headquarters in the historic Olde Carnegie Library Building.

“We set a goal of $10,000 and thought if we got half that we’d be happy,” Vogt says. The pantry collected $20,000, much of it in more than individual $5 donations. The fundraiser was so popular, the building’s electrical system couldn’t handle the load, so the number of bulbs had to be kept down, she says. The same fund-raiser will begin in November.

A year ago, the pantry served about 35 families a month. The number has grown in part because of the slow economy and because more people have become aware of it.

Once a month, the pantry helps school district residents who say they need it. Some are single parents, some are seniors on fixed incomes crimped by medical bills, and some are larger families hurt by rising costs or job losses, according to Vogt. But the pantry doesn’t seek or disclose anything personal about the clients other than valid identification and proof of residency.

“We take their word for it,” Vogt explains. “We’re all about privacy here.”

Clients don’t shop in the cramped pantry. Two to three volunteers per shift fill bags as they check with recipients what canned or boxed items they need or prefer, such as soup, fruit, vegetables, cereals and more.

“If they don’t want or need it, we’re not giving it to them,” Vogt says. Based on family size, they receive enough basics to help them get through the month, not to feed them totally. A family of four might get eight bags and family of eight might get a dozen, she adds.

Sometimes, recipients return the favor in-kind.

“We have had pantry-users walk in with three or four bags of groceries to pay us back,” Vogt says.

Vogt has some help running the pantry – board member Mary Carpenter is now volunteer treasurer and handles various business functions. “Fortunately, we don’t have many expenses,” Vogt says, except the telephone and food purchases.

Vogt has also received assistance from several aspiring Eagle Scouts, who have held food drives and collections and delivered donations to the pantry, as well as raised vegetables for the pantry in a municipal garden.

“We’ve been able to exist based on the compassion of the community,” Vogt says. “Gifts are great. It’s a very caring community.”

For complete information about the pantry or the Plaza of Lights fundraiser, visit www.pcmafoodpantry.com.

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Pickerington Magazine.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Since this story's publication in the October/November issue, Kathy Vogt is no longer the PCMA Food Pantry of Pickerington's volunteer director. Dianna Kassouf became the pantry's new director as of Nov. 1.