The mobile food pantry takes both fresh and non-perishable food supply to residents of Summit and Wasatch counties. The Christian Center of Park City started the service last year.
Executive Director Rob Harter says this year, the routes for the mobile pantry will expand. This week, it will be at the Lower Ironhorse apartments Wednesday.
“We've got three more locations this year than last,” Harter said. “And I think, as I understand it, we're going to do more eastern Summit County, and then Wasatch County as an additional location. So that was just such a big hit. We found, about the people that attended, that about 30% of them had never come to our food pantry, our physical food pantry, and so it was a great opportunity. Plus, we're working again with People's Health Clinic and Mountain Mediation [Center]. So, we want to provide some more services along with the mobile food pantry.”
He said those additional services will include wellness checkups with People’s Health Clinic and the opportunity for free legal advice.
“People’s Health Clinic, they’re just a great partner,” Harter said. “They provide a bit of a mobile health clinic and they do some health screenings while they get the food, they try to sign people up and let them know about different things that People's Health Clinic or Intermountain is providing. And then Mountain Mediation [Center], more information. Again, during COVID, we learned a lot that people had no idea about their rights and about issues they've had with their apartment, lease or lack thereof, or issues they were having with a place where they were staying. So, Mountain Mediation provided all these resources of here's what you should know, here's what your rights are. Here's some great resources to get more help.”
Immigration Legal Services will also be in town at the end of the month to provide free legal advice. First on April 28 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and then on April 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
"Every person will get at least an hour of free legal advice," Harter said. "These are actual attorneys and they're giving their time pro bono, which is really, really nice, as I understand it. The reason we're offering it is because we've heard so many people we’ve asked, what are the other services that would be helpful for you. Mediation services are certainly one but through that, they realized they actually need legal support. They need legal help. And it could be immigration support, or they need understanding what their employment is. So, this is something where that was one of the biggest things people recognize and told us was, we need legal help and assistance, but they don't have a lot of money.”
For those interested in receiving free legal advice, contact the Christian Center to register.
