Community Food Pantry of McKinney is Growing

A pantry and lobby expansion will bring more space and dignity for neighbors.

An outdoor covered patio that once housed boxes and pallets will soon be a welcoming waiting room at Community Food Pantry of McKinney.

The NTFB partner received a grant to transform half of the patio into an expanded waiting room to ensure the larger number of neighbors they’re serving will have a climate-controlled place to sit. Two cubicles being added in the space will provide guests with privacy when completing SNAP applications or meetings with pantry staff.

“It’s an inviting space that will make everyone feel welcome and give us a chance to get to know them,” says Melody Krill, Executive Director.

The other half of the patio will become a climate-controlled storage area that can accommodate a pallet jack, which is something the pantry lacked and meant more manual work for volunteers. The final portion of the grant supports the salary of a full-time pantry manager who was once a volunteer.

In the last two years, the pantry grew from serving around 100 people each day to an average of 600 neighbors. Melody says the majority of those neighbors are working families, seniors of fixed incomes or individuals who’ve recently lost jobs.

Ensuring they not only have access to food but also an experience that makes them feel seen and respected is important to Melody. Before assuming her current position, she’d been laid off. She was at a county office applying for SNAP, or food stamp, benefits when a friend shared her resume with the Community Food Pantry of McKinney board.

“I feel like God put me through that situation so I could help people struggling with food insecurity because I was one of them,” she says. “I really do feel like this is God’s work.”

Patrick Hall, a father of five who is not working because of an injury incurred on the job, says Melody has achieved her goal and that everyone he’s encountered there is kind.

“I love it here. They’re very nice,” he says. “It helps a lot. I can save money on food—milk and eggs—I save a lot.”

Another parent who visited for the first time this winter after being laid off from her customer service job agreed. Without the support, she says she’s not sure how she would be feeding her family while searching for a new position. “There’s no judgement here and they’re so kind,” she says.