Lyndonville students help keep local food pantry stocked for the holidays

Provided photo: Students from Lyndonville Central School pose with volunteer DeeAnn Diermyer and the food they collected for a food drive to benefit the Lyndonville-Yates Emergency Food Pantry. From left are Diermyer, Austin Gardner, Alex Wilson, Jack Nesbitt, Justin Higgins, Justin Pittler and Chris Mondoux.

LYNDONVILLE – Collecting food for the Lyndonville-Yates Emergency Food Pantry is an annual project for students at Lyndonville Central School.

Every year during Advent, the school’s Leo Club, under the direction of teachers Gina Marker and Teresa Pierson, encourage the entire school district to collect canned goods for the food pantry, better known as LYFE.

The food pantry is an ecumenical effort between churches in Yates and Lyndonville and is totally supported by local donations and help from Foodlink, said Martha Mitchell, pastor of the Lyndonville Methodist Church.

The school just completed its food drive and the boxes of food have been delivered to the pantry.

“This year our shelves were dangerously low, so the extra support from the school means a lot at this holiday season,” Mitchell said.

“I love that the Leo Club is teaching our youth how to embrace service in the community,” she said. “That is a mindset that, hopefully, will carry over into their adulthood.”

The LYFE pantry is supported by the Lyndonville United Methodist Church, Yates Baptist Church, Lyndonville Presbyterian Church and St. John’s Lutheran Church.

The pantry is open from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday to Thursday for area residents. Every Christmas, LYFE provides boxes of food with turkeys and many food staples. The boxes also include gifts for children in the families.

In addition, the pantry hosts two Foodlink pop-up pantry deliveries a month.