New Cooler-Freezer Added to Hospital Food Pantry
Posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026
It’s Cool Inside: A giant cooler-freezer was added to the Mercy Health Love County
Food Pantry in February, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation. Yes, It’s Tall Too: Jessica Crosthwait stands inside, where the cooler is
10’x12’ and the freezer is 10’x10’.
SOMF Grant Brings Walk-In Cooler-Freezer to Pantry
A new walk-in cooler-freezer has been installed in the Mercy Health Love County Food Pantry on Memorial Drive in Marietta, restoring substantial refrigeration for the first time since the May 2024 tornado destroyed the original pantry building and equipment.
A $50,000 gift from the Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation funded the purchase. “We are very grateful to Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation for helping the pantry in such a meaningful and long-lasting way,” said Jessica Crosthwait, who oversees the hospital’s food purchases from the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.
The combination unit includes a 10’x10’ freezer and a 10’x12’ cooler, manufactured by Leer and sold by a local Ravia company, JayComp Development. Both sides were stocked and ready for the pantry’s regular Tuesday distribution from 8 a.m. to noon. With the added capacity, Crosthwait said the pantry can now accept more produce, meats, dairy, and even freeze bread shipments over the weekend to distribute fresh on Tuesdays.
Before the installation, cold storage consisted of three small 10‑cubic‑foot chest freezers, forcing the pantry to decline free pallets of produce due to lack of refrigeration.
The pantry has moved twice since the tornado until permanently settling last fall at 1100 Memorial Drive, a former car dealership, where it operates as a drive-through service.
Now in its 25th year, the hospital pantry serves households experiencing hunger – defined as not knowing where the next meal is coming from – and food insecurity, meaning not having enough food some of the time.
Currently, 150 Love County households are in receipt of weekly food packages. This covers 235 children and 65 seniors over age 60. Numbers have risen since the tornado due to job loss, the loss of the local grocery store, and transportation challenges.
First‑time visitors register as they drive through. A typical basket includes canned goods, packaged foods, cereals, peanut butter, crackers, and hot chocolate. With the new refrigeration, potatoes, meats, onions, milk, bread, and other perishables will now be added. To celebrate the first week with the new unit, Crosthwait ordered ice cream for every package.
The pantry is one of several hundred charitable feeding programs licensed by the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, a nonprofit clearinghouse in Oklahoma City that distributes donated surplus food in western Oklahoma. The pantry receives 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of food per month, paying the discounted rate of the Regional Food Bank.
Local food drives and financial contributions supplement the program. Donations of fresh, frozen, canned, or packaged food may be dropped off at the hospital business office at 200 Wanda St. Calling (580) 276-3347 ensures someone is available to receive items.
The pantry also accepts commercially processed and packaged wild game. Some donors team up, with one providing the cost of processing and the other the animal carcass.
Additional pantry volunteers are needed especially those able to do moderate lifting. Lula Finch, a former clinic employee, is lead volunteer and has been involved since the pantry’s first day.
Hospital employees launched the feeding program in 2001. In 2002, the Love County Health Center Foundation advanced $10,000 to construct a 24’x17’ steel building for the pantry, later expanded to include a refrigerator-freezer and reception area. All of it was lost in the 2024 tornado.
The very first pantry, however, was simply a hospital linen closet, where coworkers brought food for patients choosing between food and medicine.
Crosthwait said community support over the years has been outstanding.