TOOELE — Members of the Tooele Interfaith Council regularly come together to support their religious communities. Now, the group wants to show support for its entire surrounding community.
When the council became aware that the local food pantry needed food to cover the summer months, leaders in the group immediately began planning ways to help the pantry and Tooele County residents.
The plan is to hold food drives throughout the county at summer celebrations, encouraging attendees to donate nonperishable food items for their neighbors in need.
“Our hope is to get people to donate just a little bit. If we all donate a little bit, we won’t overwhelm the pantry … or ourselves. We can all give a little,” said Traci Hardell, pastor at Mountain of Faith Lutheran Church and a leader of the Interfaith Council. “You never know when you could need it, too.”
During the school year — and certainly during the holiday season — there are several food drives throughout Tooele County. During those months, so much food is collected that the pantry in Tooele can provide its clients with enough food to feed their families.
The summer months are different. There is a drop in the amount of food donated to the pantry from June through August and there is a larger number of people who need assistance, especially families with children. Children do not have their schools as a place to eat meals throughout the day. As such, caregivers typically head to the pantries.
The Switchpoint Tooele Community Resource Center needs nonperishable food items.
If you would like to donate items such as canned goods, pasta, pasta sauce, rice, whole grains, beans and more, visit the pantry at 251 N. 1st Street, Building C, in Tooele.
Telephone: 435-228-5151
Amber Davidsavor from the Switchpoint Tooele food pantry believes the reason for the drop in food donations in the summer has to do with the many things families do during those months: vacations, entertaining children at home for the summer, visiting friends and attending different events around the county. They just are not thinking about food donations.
Hosting food drives at community events, such as Fourth of July celebrations, will bring the need to the forefront of people’s minds, Davidsavor said.
“I think people will give when they know the bins will be at all these events,” Davidsavor said. “People are very generous in Tooele County. I’ve told so many people about the need here at the pantry during the summer months and the Interfaith Council immediately wanted to do something. We’re very grateful.”
Throughout 2025, Davidsavor stated that the pantry has served between 2,100 and 2,800 people per month. The Utah Food Bank has typically brought fresh produce, but the amount of these fruits and vegetables has decreased. There are also relationships with grocery stores that can donate food items.
The summer food drive organizers and Davidsavor believe that collections at the Grantville Days in the next few weeks, Stansbury Days in August and all the Fourth of July events will encourage people to more often think of their neighbors. And help to end any stigma people have regarding seeking assistance.
“People are often hesitant to reach out when they’re in need because of the stigma,” Hardell said. “It’s important for people to know that when you are in need many people do want to help you. And the people at the food pantry are wonderful.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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