About Us
Thanks for visiting our website! Here is a little about PINC, the People in Need Coalition.
HOW WE STARTED
PINC was started by Bonnie Champagne in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her friends learned that many people in the community were quarantined in their homes without access to food and sometimes even water. She began the free meal program, calling it originally the COVID Relief Grab&Go Lunch. They cooked the meals and other volunteers delivered to people stuck in their homes. Once COVID quarantines passed, Bonnie realized the drastic levels of food insecurity in our community, and decided to keep the kitchen open, renaming it the Grab&Go Lunch Kitchen.
WHAT WE DO NOW
Today, the Grab&Go Kitchen is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and is based in the First Christian Church. We serve lunch from 11:30-1:00 each day, with the exception of major holidays. We typically serve 250-350 meals every day that we are open. Our current record is 447 meals served in one day!
PINC also is involved in many other community projects. We organize quilts for the homeless in the winter, stuff stockings for children around Christmastime, participate in the Idaho Falls Homeless Standdown each year, and many other projects.
While we love serving meals to those who need them, our goal is to help families and individuals become self-sufficient. We guide the people we serve to other community resources to help them better their lives. In Fall 2023 we began holding monthly night classes on various life skills and tips to help promote self-sufficiency.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Food and housing insecurity is a great need in our community! Here are some ways you can help us better serve these needs in Idaho Falls.
1. Monetary donations: our current greatest need is money to buy paper products and other items necessary for the meals. While we work with exclusively donated food, the trays, utensils, water bottles, soap, and other products we use daily are all bought by our volunteers. By donating just $1, you can provide lunches for three people in our community. Venmo: @pincoalition
2. Volunteer with us: feel free to send us an email if you'd like to come and serve in our kitchen or on a future project. IF you have a specific skill, we can put it to work!
3. Check out our Amazon Wishlist: https://a.co/hS6YoRF
4. Food donations and drives: food donations are how we are able to serve our meals! We greatly appreciate any food donations as well as donations of paper products, hygiene items, and cleaning supplies.