A $21,000 grant from United Way of Northwest Michigan resulted in the purchase and delivery of some 19,000 pounds of food to the Father Fred Foundation last week.

The food dropped off at Father Fred’s in Traverse City on Thursday, Dec. 20, was bought from Spartan Food Stores, who provided a bulk food discount, and will be distributed to 18 pantries in United Way’s service area, which includes Leelanau County.

In addition to the bulk food purchase, grant funds will be used to purchase $6,000 in vouchers that will be distributed to pantries for supplemental food purchases. United Way officials said they focused on helping the pantries because the need for many people in the area is at a “critical point,” a contention supported by Val Stone, director of the Northwest Food Coalition.

“We served 156,000 people through November of this year, up from 132,000 from the entire 2006,” Stone said. “People are choosing between heating, paying their rent and eating. The grant is a wonderful thing for our families in these tough economic times.”

The grant came from United Way’s IMPACT 1000 program, a giving option where donors collectively decide how and to whom funds will be directed.

For more information, call United Way executive director Pam Prairie at 947-3200.