On Thursday, Sally Senteney, a member of the First United Methodist Church’s Worship Team, presented a $5,150 check to Kewanee Food Pantry Board President Barb Gross and Director Lisa Janey.

It was the church’s second major donation in the past month. The first check was over $3,000.

Senteney said the money came from several sources. More than half was contributed by the congregation. Rev. Haley Hausman secured a $3,000 grant from the Illinois Great River Conference, and another $1,225 came from a food account established years ago, which funded a free meal at the church.

In November, the Worship Team challenged the congregation, other churches and the community to donate food and money to the pantry. The response was immediate.

“We challenged and they came through,” Senteney said.

Janey said the pantry has been inundated with donations, highlighting Jacque Komnick’s Troop 4444 that collected more than 1,000 pounds of food in just 24 hours.

“The community is extremely generous, and I don’t think we could live in a better city than Kewanee when it comes to generosity,” she said, describing the flood of food and money as “over the top.”

Janey said the community stepped up for those in need. “Nobody in Kewanee will ever go hungry,” she said.

Thousands of pounds of food and monetary donations have filled the pantry’s shelves once again.

“We’re sitting comfortably,” Janey said. “But we have to think of the future.”

That future is uncertain, with food insecurity on the rise and the SNAP program under threat.

Board member Sandy Hill noted that while donations have been plentiful, they must last until spring, when the pantry’s major food drive takes place.

Gross said the pantry can always use items such as soup, cereal, canned fruit, spaghetti sauce, condiments, seasonings, vegetables and peanut butter. She praised the community for donating exactly what was needed.

“Thank you to all of Kewanee that have been so generous helping us at this time of year. It was needed,” Gross said.