ONEIDA — The Oneida Elks Lodge #767 presented a check for $2,500 to Karing Kitchen in Oneida, helping them ensure people don’t go hungry as state and federal aid, increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, returns to pre-pandemic levels.

On Thursday, Karing Kitchen Coordinator Melissa King worked with youth volunteers from Our Lady of Good Counsel in Verona, assembling meals and getting ready for future events. With schools off this week, church volunteers have been working hard at Karing Kitchen to help get meals to those in need.

“We’ve been processing 7,000 pounds of food as of late,” King said. “We’ve been serving meals all week, delivering lunches, we just did our Valentine’s Day for our seniors, we’ve got our Saint Patrick’s Day dinner for seniors coming up, and we’ve also got to prepare for summer.”

“We know there’s going to be changes and that’s because we’ve already seen changes,” King said. “Certain funding has ended and other funding is ending come before summer. Karing Kitchen is just working to make sure we can address the needs of the community.”

King was grateful to the Oneida Elks for their donation of $2,500, saying it will certainly help. “We served 631 families this Christmas,” she said. “We wouldn’t we able to do the work we do without donations and support from the community. That’s the reality.”

George Winney, the secretary of the Oneida Elks Lodge, said this is the fifth year now that the Lodge has “... aggressively pursued grants from the Elks National Foundation.”

Winney said the Lodge secured the Gratitude Grant for $2,500.

“We’ve been familiar with Karing Kitchen’s program and we do this as part of the Elk’s National Lodge Community Investment Program,” Winney said. “Local lodges are encouraged to invest in our communities.”

And with the need in the community greater than ever, what organizations like the Elk’s Lodge are doing is more important than ever.

“Our organization teaches that if you’re not able to actively do it — and we don’t run a food pantry — then find an organization that does it and does it well and support them,” Winney said.