HOLLY POND — The Carpenter’s Cabinet food pantry has been providing support to the community for a little over a year, and now has a plan that could help the town’s residents even more.

The pantry, located at 60 Finley Circle in Holly Pond, wants to add a kitchen to their facility to serve as emergency assistance after a natural disaster, but needs help from the community to pay for the addition. 

Founder and Director Chris Warnick said the pantry has a proven track record with its community support, and the kitchen could let Carpenter’s Cabinet help even more. 

“We helped 300 families here in our first year in the community,” he said.

The only thing that is holding Warnick and the Carpenter’s Cabinet from going forward with this plan is the funding. 

Warnick said the cost of the project will be around $40,000, and they need help from the community to match a grant that could fund the kitchen. 

“It’s a 50/50 grant, so we have to raise about $20,000,” he said.

To get to that goal, Warnick is asking people and businesses in the community for their help. 

“We’re looking for support from the community,” he said. 

If the goal is reached and the kitchen is built, its location will coincide with a plan by the town’s government.  

Holly Pond recently received a grant to build a community storm shelter, and the projected site for the shelter is directly behind the Carpenter’s Cabinet. 

In the event that a disaster did happen, the proximity of the pantry and storm shelter would mean that help could be available in a short time, Warnick said. 

“We would be able to open within minutes,” he said. “Hours at the max.” 

Warnick said the immediate support would be available both to any potential victims of the disaster and the people who are responding to it. 

“We would be able to feed first responders, workers, cleanup crews, all of them,” he said. “We think that our facility is big enough to accommodate them.”

If the pantry is able to raise the funds, Holly Pond would benefit from the kitchen if a natural disaster happens, Warnick said. 

“I think it’s a very worthwhile project and I think the community as a whole will be very blessed to have this should another disaster happen,” he said. 

Holly Pond Mayor Bill Oliver said the Carpenter’s Cabinet has been a big help for the residents of the town during the past year. 

“I have nothing but positive things to say about it,” he said. 

Adding a kitchen to the facility would be a great help if a tornado or natural disaster meant that people were forced to stay in the shelter or away from their homes for an extended period of time, Oliver said. 

“We would have a building where we can feed people,” he said. 

There are already churches, community organizations and individuals who cook food for first responders and victims of natural disasters, but the pantry kitchen could make a central location for people to meet for that help. 

Oliver said the town could have already used that kitchen a few months ago. 

A tornado touched down in Holly Pond in September, damaging several houses and barns, and the kitchen could have been used to help feed all of the people who came to help with the cleanup, he said. 

Oliver said there are a lot of people in the area who need support, and he and rest of the town will do everything they can to make sure that the Carpenter’s Cabinet continues to provide them with the help that they need. 

“We’re looking forward to working with Chris and his facility there,” he said.