Mormons' food delivery to Long Island pantry is delayed again

The Good Friday delivery of 40,000 pounds of food to a nearly empty Long Island pantry was delayed again, but pantry officials say its arrival early next week will still be right on time.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ delivery from its Salt Lake City headquarters is expected Monday at the pantry at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Roman Catholic Church in Wyandanch.

That comes after the food donation — the largest to the Gerald J. Ryan Outreach Center — was delayed by a Wyoming snowstorm, and recently, operational limits for the drivers moving it across the country, said Noelle Campbell, the pantry's executive director. 

But Campbell said the donation will still be a balm for the pantry, local parishes and nonprofits.

“This whole thing is just miraculous in a sense because it’s coming when we were going to need it," she said.

The pantry, which serves roughly 1,000 families a month, is depleted. Specifically, it's out of rice and low on beans.

The upcoming arrival of the 53-foot-long truck to the pantry was long in the making. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons, sent a young volunteer, or missionary, to the parish in 2021, Newsday reported. The volunteer then learned more about the pantry.

The Latter-day Saints grow and give away food to disadvantaged communities. And so, Robert Martin, an elder in the church, suggested they might help the pantry with supplies.

Undeterred by the delays, volunteers will be back Monday to accept the food, Campbell said.

“We were really looking forward to it being today, but I … ultimately say, ‘God is in control,’” Campbell said.

For more information on the pantry, go to geraldryanoutreach.org.

With Bart Jones

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.