A local speed dating event next weekend will raise funds for “The Little Free Pantry.” 

Michelle McCart and two of her friends decided they wanted to create their own event for singles to meet in St. Joseph. 

“We wanted to make a date that was going to be fun and effortless and didn’t have any expectations to it,” McCart said. “We’ve all had our fair share of bad dates but we wanted to try to at least give somebody a good time and have fun and meet new people.” 

The event will begin will signing up and getting a nametag at the door. According to McCart, the men or the women will be seated and every five minutes participants will go around to the next person.

“There will be a deck of cards on the table for questions so you’ll have something to talk about and it won’t be an awkward silence the whole time,” McCart said. “At the end of the speed dating and the mixer event, you’ll get a little survey card.. And if you want to give somebody your number, you put it in the box with your name and who you wanted to give your number to and then it goes into our hands and we reach out to the other person to give it to them.”

There is a $20 entry fee to the event. Part of the proceeds will go to “The Little Free Pantry.” McCart said they heard the pantry on Edmond Street has had items stolen and wanted to help. 

“Items were being stolen off of this mother’s front porch that was doing this thing for the community,” McCart said. “We wanted to give something back to the community in all of this. If we’re trying to get people from the community, we want to give back.” 

A social mixer will be held after the speed dating portion. There will be food, drinks, music, games and prizes. 

For more information, visit the Spring Fling Speed Dating event on Facebook or call (816) 262-9602 or (816) 273-4621.