Moorcroft Interfaith Community

The Moorcroft Interfaith Community (MIC) Food Pantry is a regional food pantry located in Moorcroft, Wyoming, serving food insecure households in NE Wyoming. MIC was organized in June of 2018 after an Emergency Preparedness group was informed by the Food Bank of the Rockies that Crook and Weston were, respectively, the #1 and #2 most food insecure counties in Wyoming. We quickly discovered we didn't need to be looking for emergencies for which to prepare; the emergency had found us. The MIC pantry began small but has continued to grow over the years until today it serves all of NE Wyoming which includes Crook, Weston and E Campbell Counties. We have served 1279 unique households in that time. 

For the last five years MIC has been housed in the cafeteria of the Old Elementary School which was generously donated by the Moorcroft Town Council. The pantry has outgrown the space and we have had to stage our food outside which has been problematic due to the extreme weather patterns in NE Wyoming. Then the Town Council moved Town Hall to an adjacent area and gently let us know they would now like to repurpose the food pantry area for other uses. 

MIC looked for suitable structures to house the pantry but found none large enough to meet our needs in the area. To facilitate the pantry, the Town Council donated three town lots to MIC for a dedicated food pantry building. 

Thus planning and fundraising has begun for a two phase building project. Phase One is to be a 42' x' 100' x16' structure which will allow for the unloading of trucks, the storing, boxing and staging of food and a two lane drive through distribution all in a climate controlled facility. This set up will allow safe food storage and protect both food and volunteers from extreme weather conditions common to our area. 

Estimated cost for Phase One is $485,000. To date, MIC has received over $189,000 in cash donations. A local corporation, Blakeman Propane Inc. has generously offered a $140,000 Matching Grant and the Hughes Charitable Foundation has put forth a $100,000 Challenge Grant. Once the Blakeman Matching Grant is fulfilled, MIC will have the funds needed to qualify for the Challenge Grant. Construction will begin as soon as possible after that. The Challenge Grant must be claimed by June 10, 2026.

Phase Two is to be a 60' x 80' x 16' structure which will increase dry storage capacity, office space and increased refrigeration capacity. Our two 10' x 12' units are currently out-of-doors, and though rated for outdoor usage, they were built in the south and struggle mightily with the extremes of Wyoming weather. In the summer both units have difficulty maintaining safe range temperatures and in the winter months, the refrigerator becomes another freezer. These two units will be moved under roof and MIC will also purchase two 12' x 24' units to increase our storage capacity.