The Family Center IGA presented the Helping Hands Food Pantry with a check for $10,039 on Tuesday, April 10. From left are Jeannine LaBruzzo and Arlene Hughes, both on the Food Pantry’s board of directors, and grocery store co-owners Mike Hall and Jim Magee. Several IGA employees were honored for their efforts. (See the photo gallery section of the South Jetty’s Web site, www.portasouthjetty.com, for photos of the employees.) STAFF PHOTO BY DAN PARKER The Port Aransas community responded to the tune of $10,000 to a drive in which Family Center IGA customers were asked if they wanted to donate $1 to the Helping Hands Food Pantry when they checked out.

Several checkers went above and beyond and they are being recognized for their efforts.

Mike Hall, co-owner and store director of the IGA, presented the check to Arlene Hughes of the food pantry on Tuesday, April 10.

IGA supplies food and staples to the food pantry at a very affordable price. Elizabeth Chouk, director of purchasing for the pantry, complimented all of the IGA staff, from those who assemble and pack the food purchased to those who help load it for delivery, noting that the almost weekly support “allows us to assist with the nutritional needs of those less fortunate in our community. Without Mike’s support and the support of his staff, we would fall far short of meeting these needs.”

The pantry serves as a supplemental source of nutritional needs of those in the community with the support of a broad base of local organizations. The facility, on the grounds of the Community Presbyterian Church, is open each Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to distribute basic food and staples to qualified recipients.

In addition, the pantry sponsored a children’s summer food program in 2011 and plans to continue with a similar program in 2012. The program focuses on the nutritional needs of children who participate in the school lunch programs of the Port Aransas Independent

School District.

In March, the pantry began a weekend “Backpack Program” to supply supplemental weekend food to children on the school lunch program in the elementary school.

Hughes noted that it is through the generous support of the community, local businesses, churches, other charitable organizations and others that the pantry can continue to sustain its basic mission and to undertake these new initiatives.