Dayton Food Pantry Celebrates Expanded Facility (Nevada Appeal)
By Jessica Garcia, Nevada Appeal
The Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties (HCC) on Friday held a grand opening for its expanded Dayton pantry during a “Pantry Palooza and Fill the Pantry” event with about 150 in attendance.
The campus has grown from 400 square feet to 4,000 square feet and includes three large walk-in coolers supported by a refrigerated truck and four insulated storage sheds, executive director Wendy Madson shared with guests. One shed will be used for HCC’s weekend backpack program to help Lyon County students with access to food when school is not in session.
“The need for capacity is clearly very real,” she said in her remarks. “In July alone, our three food pantries in Silver Springs, Yerington and here in Dayton served 2,791 individuals in just one month.”
Madson couldn’t overlook the multiple challenges the Dayton food pantry went through from day one to finally becoming the Dayton Valley Regional Food Hub.
Like many nonprofits, grant funding always has been in short supply. Finding the food to help its local residents often was a struggle. Working in a space of 400 square feet kept operations constrained.
In 2024, a driver under the influence crashed into the awning of the Community Roots Nursery and struck the pantry’s building. The incident damaged the walk-in cooler, main freezers and a significant amount of food that had been stored.
Now, the increased space will give HCC volunteers better capacity to receive food dropoffs and storage, Madson said.
Traci Rothman, pantry leader, called the opening “amazing.”
“We’ll be able to provide more resources but we will get bigger loads of food and we’ll get bigger loads of food and we’ll be able to share them throughout the community so nobody has food insecurity any longer. That will be a work in progress, but that’s our main goal.”
Board President Chad Pace, previously a Lyon County deputy district attorney who has worked with domestic violence cases where clients often needed access to food, said it has been an honor to learn from Madson.
“Food is the bottom of the pyramid,” he said. “Everyone needs enough food just to get through the day. Certainly, that’s so critical, and Healthy Communities’ food is, too, and there’s so much more. We’re involved in the school district. We’re involved with farmers. We’re involved with healthcare and healthcare community workers. I have a lot of pride for all this organization does.”
The HCC also provides two greenhouses to grow its own food with its Community Roots Nursery, a garden center that supports the pantry and youth programming.
Madson said she was “overwhelmed” by the assistance that always comes in through local food drives, businesses, neighbors, churches, schools and individuals who donate food and time to the HCC’s pantries.
“Each contribution may look a little different, but together they tell the same story,” she said. “When our community seeks a need, our community finds a way to respond.”
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