On Nov. 19 the West End Food Pantry opened its doors for the first time. The first Saturday the pantry served about 50 families.

On Dec. 19, just its third day of operations, the pantry served 98 families. That is 316 people who were able to select food the week before Christmas.Some of these people might have had somewhere else to go for food, but many might have had to do without if not for Karena Thek of Kunkletown, the Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network and the new West End Food Pantry.Then saw a need in the West End that PVEN was unable to address with its regulations and being taxed itself with the needs of the community. So Thek set out to bring the pantry to Kunkletown.The pantry, open from 9 a.m. to noon on the first and third Saturday of the month, is located at the Eldred Township Community Center, which is housed in the old Eldred Elementary School on Kunkletown Road, right next to the township building.