Generosity from a variety of people saved the day for the Grand Central Station’s Market Depot recently. The food pantry’s commercial reach-in freezer went out recently. with
The freezer went out March 25.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Market Depot Coordinator Sabrena Keathly said. “God works in great ways. We posted Monday that we needed $2,400 to replace it.”
They received the money to do that in just one day.
“I am just so glad that we live in such a wonderful and generous community that supports us whenever we have crises like this and just supports us in general so that we can stay in operation,” she added.
Half of the money came from one donor, and she said then rest of it was made up of smaller contributions.
The new freezer was set to be ordered on Wednesday. It should be enroute to the Market Depot soon.
The old freezer’s compressor went out, and Keathly explained replacing the compressor would have cost almost as much as getting a new one. Doing without the main freezer meant that the staff at Market Depot had to move things around and use some smaller non-commercial grade freezers to keep offering the shopping like experience that those in need can find at the Market Depot located at 619 E. Houston in Sherman.
“It’s been a little difficult. We’ve had to move stuff around frequently, but we have managed,” Keathly said.
She added that the commercial grade freezer allows those who use the Depot to shop for frozen meats, veggies and other items just the way they would at a grocery store.
The Market Depot is open from 1-4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week.
“We average between 40 and 50 families a day,” Keathly said.
Those families are allowed to shop the Depot’s shelves just the way they would at a grocery store so they can pick out the things that they know their families will eat.
Keathly said local support of the food pantry really makes the difference.
“We get the bulk amount of food from North Texas Food Bank but without the donations from churches and individuals and organizations and everybody else we wouldn’t be able to operate on just what we get from the food bank,” she added.
The Market Depot is a continuation of the Greenhouse/Key Care Mission which served the local community for more than 40 years. No appointment is needed, only an ID for each family member.
