The Nevada Outreach Training Organization will be able to offer food to people regardless of income, after the awarding of a $24,000 grant.

Bob Baker, executive director of the United Way of Pioneer Territory, announced the awarding of an emergency food and shelter grant to the organization at a Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce after-hours mixer Wednesday evening.

Baker said the funds weren't available for the last five years, after the unemployment rate dipped below a certain point. The money comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Nevada Outreach Training Organization was the only local provider that responded to an advertisement on the funding in April and filled out all the paperwork, Baker said. That is an umbrella organization for the Family Resource Center, No To Abuse and the Family To Family program.

Celia Garrity, executive director of the Nevada Outreach Training Organization, said the money will be used to fund food programs throughout Nye County. The organization already has sites in Pahrump and Tonopah, and is in the process of locating storage sites in Beatty and Amargosa Valley.

The Pahrump Food Pantry is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 621 S. Blagg Road.

Elsewhere, Garrity expects to distribute food from Beatty, Tonopah and Amargosa Valley every month.

"Our fund has been very limited and funded through a program with specific parameters," Garrity said. "So now we can broaden those parameters."

Previously, residents who wanted to participate in the program had to earn an income below the federal poverty line. Garrity said those who participate will still have to use a card.

"There's an increasing demand because more and more people are having to stretch their dollars further and further," Garrity said. "It's a budget of the gas tank or the grocery store. Hopefully we'll be able to fill in those gaps."

The food will be non-perishable items, anything from beans to oatmeal to macaroni and cheese.

The organization has a contract with Three Square, a part of the Second Harvest organization, which will obtain food at a reduced cost, stretching those dollars even more, Garrity said.