Continuing  COVID-19 concerns in the community will intercept the annual Trick or Treat for Loaves and Fishes this October.

The board of directors of the local food pantry has decided to suspend what has been its biggest food drive of the year, a door-to-door solicitation in October with participation by school and youth groups in the community.

Loaves and Fishes has conducted the fall food drive every year for the last 33 years, said Cindy Balderas, food pantry treasurer. The one-night campaign has collected between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds of food in previous years.

“We don’t want to put our volunteers at risk going door-to-door,” said Balderas.

It means that both community food drives in Powell have been sidelined in 2020. The annual postal workers food drive in May was also shut down by COVID.

While there will be no community-wide solicitations this year, donors have stepped forward to keep the food pantry going, with the Wyoming Hunger Initiative among them. The iniative, led by Wyoming First Lady Jennie Gordon and funded by private donors, works to combat food insecurity in the state.

Loaves and Fishes has received two checks for $1,000 each from the First Lady’s program.  Many other donors have stepped up individually, said Balderas.

“We’re humbled by everything we get — every $15, $25, or $100. The community has rallied behind us. We’ve had donations from Cody, Montana, Florida, from former residents. We’ve had donations from all over,” she said.

Food collection barrels in the grocery stores in Powell have also been well supported, she added.

“Hopefully, by spring this pandemic will have turned around, and the postal drive can go ahead,” Balderas said. “We’ve started rethinking our own solicitation. Maybe there’s a different way to gather food. We’ve got some time.”

Balderas thanked the hard workers who commit so much time to Loaves and Fishes. Julie Fulton is the volunteer coordinator. Jim Wysocki, Peggy Snyder and Steve Bailey are the food coordinators. BeeGee Coughenour is secretary and other board members are Vicki Blevins and Linda Fischer.

“We’re not in this for the glory,” Balderas said. “We do it for our community.”

On average, the food pantry serves about 75 families a month; sometimes the  clients are as many as 200 families a month.

During COVID precautions, people are asked to call the food pantry at the county annex building at 307-754-8800 to schedule an appointment. Contributions may be sent to Loaves and Fishes, P.O. Box 992, Powell, WY 82435.

(Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that funding for the Wyoming Hunger Initiative came from the federal CARES Act.)