Feeding Hope Since 1990: The Story of Alcova’s Food Pantry
- Apr 22
- 5 min read
I feel the need to introduce you to the unincorporated community of Alcova, Wyoming, founded in 1881. Our village population is small, running about 50 full-time residents (excluding the lake area). Our neighborhood stretches for miles in all directions. Once a cow town, we are now known for water sports. We are a loving, caring, and busy community.
About 1990, the local church felt there was a need for a food pantry. Those who first brought this need to light were a local couple taking in foster children, two working single mothers, and some ranch hands waiting for their paychecks. These folks needed a helping hand. At the time of its beginning, I was one of three church women who volunteered to oversee the pantry, and our pastor served as the grocery pickup and delivery person. A space for two donated metal shelves was made available in the church’s Fellowship Hall.
Today, the pantry has its own room, with shelving on all four walls. Since acquiring both a commercial-grade freezer and refrigerator, we have had to move out of the original pantry room to accommodate the electrical needs of the appliances. This also gave us room for a couple of overflow shelves, mostly used for dry produce, along with a prep table.
At the time we opened the pantry doors, we purchased canned goods from the Salvation Army in Casper, Wyoming. Sometime later, we were able to obtain meat and dairy items as well. There were even times when we would get a call to come to Casper to receive groceries from a truck spill—meaning there had been a highway accident and whatever food items the trucker was hauling were free.
When the Food Bank of the Rockies moved into Casper, they brought a larger variety of food, along with federal rules requiring yearly Food Safety and Civil Rights training and testing for volunteers. These rules, regulations, and standards are to be honored. At first, our orders were faxed to Denver, Colorado, to the Food Bank warehouse, then trucked to Casper for us to pick up. Around 2011, computer ordering came into play—which is great if all systems are running properly. Today, we use the computer to input our orders, which go to the Casper warehouse and are then delivered to the church door.
I became the Alcova Community Church Food Pantry Director in 2004 and vacated the office on March 3, 2026. Yes, there are frustrations—mine were computer glitches and clients who don’t always follow our local pantry rules. But the heartwarming signs, words, and actions stir my soul, and that outweighs any frustrations. For example, the client who helps carry groceries for others, or asks if they can help in any way; the homeless client who asks if they can give me a hug; or the tears in someone’s eyes as they say, “Thank you—now I can get the medicine I need,” or “My kids will love the cookies.” These are the moments I will miss.
Our local and county donors come to us with their abundance to help others. It is not unusual for my phone to ring with someone asking if they can drop off food items, or if I can pick something up for the pantry. Our local gardeners are a great resource—their produce is washed, bagged, and ready for the table or the pot.
Local businesses also help. Our convenience store and marina share products nearing their sell-by date. Outdated but still usable items are taken to our local post office with a sign marked “OUT DATE,” and they are usually gone within a few days.
Our volunteer staff has been outstanding. They are ready to go the extra mile for those in need. They give not only their time and talents, but also financially, driving an 80-mile round trip to the Casper warehouse twice a month to pick up produce. Our newest volunteer is a recycler—so boxes beware, for they are at his mercy as he breaks them down and hauls them to a recycling depot 30 miles away. Trash disposal is of little concern; wet waste goes to local chickens, so very little is wasted.
State and federal resources have also played an important role. The Wyoming Food Bank helped sustain us in the early years and up until about 2022 with food purchasing grants and funding for a commercial refrigerator. In 2023, I noticed a downturn not only in products available for our shelves but also in food purchase grants. However, in the last few months, the warehouse grocery list has improved greatly, which I believe is due to the diligence of the Wyoming Food Bank staff. It has been my privilege to work with them.
At the inception in 2020 of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative, introduced by First Lady Jennie Gordon, a great light was brought to the issue of hunger in Wyoming. The small rural Alcova Pantry has benefited greatly from this program through grants, cash donations, state-grown food, and funding for a commercial freezer. I was relieved to learn that the Hunger Initiative will continue in Wyoming as a 501(c) organization. Their help seems to come just when there is a need.
The Alcova Food Pantry operates strictly on donations. There has only been one instance that I can remember when we did not have funds to place an order, yet our doors remained open with what we had.
Alcova Pantry outreach may be small in size, but it is mighty in reach. Our service area has no true boundaries. Posted hours do not always meet clients’ work schedules, so call-outs are frequent, and appointments have become part of our routine. We are here to meet the needs of the hungry.
One highlight comes from early spring of 2022, when I received a call from a friend asking if she could shop the pantry for an aging, isolated ranch couple in Sweetwater County. They were down to half a chicken and in need of food. We filled her vehicle, and she made the trip in her husband’s four-wheel-drive pickup without trouble—returning twice more with additional food. That fall, the pantry helped stock their supplies for the winter.
During the Carbon County Pedro Mountain Fire, the pantry doors remained open for approximately ten straight days to serve fire victims and the fire abatement team. Food was not the first concern—the welfare of the residents was. The abatement team brought their own food, and those who remained worked together. One of the first requests we received was for a cup of coffee. A volunteer immediately provided funds to purchase coffee from the local store, and I brewed coffee daily for the next ten days. We became a receiving station for donations and a tactical center for the abatement team. Many blessings came from that time—even a man known for his gruff nature stopped to thank us for the coffee, food, water, and a place to park. Others helped clean the church and haul donations to a mission outlet in Casper, giving their time despite their own losses.
Another memory is of a local school bus driver who called about a Hispanic ranch hand family without transportation to buy groceries. Their son sent a list on the bus, and we filled it with pantry and donated items. The driver used her own vehicle to deliver the food. We helped that family several times until they moved away.
When you serve those in need, be prepared to go the extra mile—and the blessings will be bountiful. I have been blessed.
—Kay Eichorn
Kay Eichorn is a longtime resident of Alcova, Wyoming, who served as Director of the Alcova Community Church Food Pantry from 2004 to 2026, helping lead a small but far-reaching rural ministry dedicated to feeding neighbors in need.
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