When the Wellsville-Middletown Tiger Table Food Pantry opened its doors on Aug. 20, it drew a large number of people from the Wellsville community.

It can thank Clinetta Weinrich for that. During the W-M R-I Open House, she stood in the hallways of W-M Elementary School trying to get people to go to the Tiger Table and pick up free food.

“I stood out there and made them come in here,’ said Weinrich, who is one of the helpers of the Tiger Table.

After two months, the Tiger Table is still drawing big turnouts. It is open from 3:45 p.m.-6 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at Room 302 at W-M Elementary. On Oct. 1, the food pantry drew 95 people, 56 of them were children.

“I’m very proud of this program,” Weinrich said. “God has opened a lot of doors.”

R-I Superintendent Tiffany Gosseen said the Tiger Table has been valuable to the school district. It has drawn between 25 to 30 families each time it is open and has a strong partnership with Dollar General.

“They just received a $1,000 grant from the Rotary Club, so they’ll be getting another refrigerator and some shelves,” Gosseen said. “It’s growing.”

The Tiger Table gives away food items such as ground beef, polish sausages, spaghetti, peanut butter and canned fruit.

The food pantry also provides items for babies, such as diapers.

“Parents as Teachers have some source in Columbia that they’re getting diapers from,” Weinrich said. “It’s kind of like their deal, but we have them here to offer.”

Weinrich said each day the Tiger Table is open, she and the other helpers keep track of how many members of each family and how many children are in the family. The children must be school-aged and live in the Wellsville-Middletown R-I School District. They don’t have to be students at R-I.

“We’re growing,” Weinrich said. “We see people all of the time. We see old people come back. It’s a good deal. I’m very happy with it.”

The other helpers are Julie Day, Nancy Blaue, Andrea Wilkinson, Roni Bradley and Katie Parrish. Day works as an elementary school counselor, Wilkinson is a third-grade teacher and Bradley teaches math at the high school.

Weinrich, who is a retired teacher from the R-I School District, said Parrish has been a strong addition to the Tiger Table staff.

“She is really good about knowing what to do,” Weinrich said. “She can check people in, she can restock and she knows how to break down boxes. She’s an amazing helper.”

The Tiger Table was formerly known as the Buddy Pack program. Weinrich started the program in 2012, when she worked as a kindergarten teacher at W-M. It operated at the Wellsville United Methodist Presbyterian Church for its first 12 years before it moved to W-M Elementary in 2024.

“When they started this in 2012, I prayed really hard about this,” Weinrich said.

In March, the Buddy Pack program was changed to the Tiger Table, where parents and students can choose what foods they want. It ran for two months before school was closed in May and reopened on Aug. 20, when R-I held its open house.

Weinrich said organizations such as Dollar General, the Rotary Club and Reach Community Church have been helpful to the Tiger Table.

“We have a lot of support from our community,” Weinrich said. “It’s really neat because you’re seeing that many people come to participate in it. In the Buddy Packs, we tried to do two meals, two lunches and two breakfasts, at least. Here we try to do at least two dinners, a breakfast and a snack.”

All families living in the R-I School District are eligible to pick up food, regardless of income. Weinrich said currently, the county has a 17 percent poverty rate.

“Food is expensive right now,” Weinrich said. “Gasoline is expensive. If you’re making $17 an hour, you’re having a hard time raising a family of four, even with both parents.”

The Tiger Table will open again on Nov. 5.