On Monday, December 17th, Fox News13, live at eleven came to the UTVA office in Murray to highlight the newly opened UTVA Pantry.  Over one hundred UTVA students and familiy members showed up to help unload the truck and stack the pantry. Rick Bonnaducci was there with his Live at Eleven crew to interview Head of School, Meghan Meredith and LuAnn Charles to report how the pantry has come to be, and evolved into a community project. The live clip can be found HERE

As a title one school, UTVA has many families that struggle to make ends meet. LuAnn Charles, Student Services Administrator, found out about a UTVA family in need of furniture and basic amenities for their apartment. She put out a simple inquiry on her personal Facebook page.  The outpouring of offers for beds, bedding, food and clothing for the family was overwhelming.  LuAnn received a call from one of her contacts, Mike Bearden at Alpine school district with the offer to provide the food and clothing that they had received from their recent food drive and donate it to UTVA.  The small idea to help one family along with the generosity of the Alpine School District and so many local community members, has developed into an opportunity for UTVA to open its own pantry!  We are thankful for all that have donated, and helped to sort and organize the pantry. We couldn’t do this without community support! A special thanks to:

Mike Bearden- School Counselor, Diane Wanamaker- Principal (Oak Canyon Jr. High) – Truck delivery of food and clothing donations
Courtney Anderson, St. George  – blessing bag donation
Tracy Jacobson from the Murray City Community Group – pillowcases and gifts for our homeless families
Dr Allen- Murray Dentist office staff
WCF Insurance: Shelves donation
UTVA Volunteers
UTVA office staff: Brooke Cosgrove and Rylie Savage

It is our goal to keep this pantry open year round for families.  If you are interested in donating, here is a list of items that the pantry is in need of:

Dry goods (except ramen)
Toiletries
Laundry soap
New underwear and socks
Diapers

Please drop donations off at our Murray office: 310 E 4500 S Suite 620, Murray, UT (6th Floor)