More than 6,000 items collected for food pantry

Employees at Great River Energy’s Spiritwood Station construction site donated more than 6,200 items and $6,300 toward the food pantry at Community Action in Jamestown.

The 460 pipe fitters, iron workers, boilermakers/millwrights, civil crew and administrators competed against each other to gather donations including canned goods as well as diapers, detergent and paper towels.

Many of the workers aren’t from here, but wanted to help the pantry because Jamestown is their new home, said Dee Pickering, administrator of document control.

“This is our home now for however long,” said Levi Heinrich, a crane operator for Wanzek Contruction. Heinrich is originally from Scott City, Kan.

Employees at the Spiritwood Station site expect to deliver the items on Monday.

Community Action’s food pantry distributes about 100 food baskets each month, compared to last year at this time when it distributed about 80 per month, said Kathy Williams, Community Action Program executive director.

Williams said the increase this year is likely because of job losses and reduced hours.

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