Food pantries see significant usage increase

MT. PLEASANT — Food pantries around Henry County see an increase in usage as families feel the impact of decreased Food Stamp benefits and children spend more time at home during the summer.

This past Monday, The Fellowship Cup very easily saw this increase as they launched their first day of the summer lunch program.

“We already reached our peak from last year on the very first day,” Director of the Fellowship Cup Ken Brown said. “We peaked at over 150 kids in the program, last year.”

Because last year’s program didn’t reach peak numbers until July, Brown anticipates that they will only continue to grow as the summer continues.

“Already, I would say about 15 new families, who have never done the program before, signed up,” Brown said. “That's kind of raised a lot of red flags, that there are a lot of people who are struggling, who weren't before and have need of the program.”

“We're going to take care of a lot more families and a lot more kids this year,” Brown said. “But again with the community support, it's been great. We're not in fear that we can handle it. It's just again concerning that there's that many people in need.”

Brown says to support the summer lunch program, The Fellowship Cup asks for specific donations of juice boxes, deli meat, hot dogs, and snack items.

To sign up for the program, call (319) 385-3242 or visit their Facebook page to find the registration form.

The Fellowship Cup has also seen an increase in usage of the food pantry overall.

“Benefits going away and stopping any of the COVID relief, the need has increased,” Brown said. “Now, we’re going back to before that time with benefits, but there is inflation. Food prices are much higher than they were three years ago. So, that’s a challenge.”

According to Brown The Fellowship Cup currently averages approximately 130 households each week.

“That was double what we were seeing during COVID,” he said.

“I just had a meeting with the Food Bank last week, and everybody’s seeing their numbers go up,” Brown said.

WACO Community Food Pantry Director Jenny Kaufmann says that she has seen the increase as well.

“Our usage has tripled since the year after COVID,” Kaufmann said. “We are continuing to add new people every time we have pantry.”

Kaufmann sees the current state of the economy as the primary reason for the increase.

“I mean, gas prices and grocery prices are ridiculous,” she said. “Plus there's been a decrease in SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits.”

Much like Brown at The Fellowship Cup, Kaufmann expected to see need continue to rise with children home for the summer.

“People are on tight budgets anyway, but now having kids home …” Kaufmann said. “Lots of them counted on breakfast and lunch at school, now they’re having to meet those needs, too.”

While Kaufmann says the WACO Pantry is meeting demand relatively well, some weeks are harder than others.

“Because we have so many families, every once in awhile we don’t have milk,” she said. “If I can get it for free, that’s great, but I can’t go out and buy 80 things of milk. That gets expensive.”

To provide the needed items for families using the pantry, Kaufmann says they rely on donations.

Monetary donations can be made at Wayland State Bank to the WACO School Foundation with a memo stating the donation is for the pantry. Checks can also be dropped off or mailed to the United Crawfordsville Church. Other donations can be dropped off at the church.

While WACO Community Food Pantry and The Fellowship Cup feel capable of weathering the increase, so far, New London’s Tiger Food Pantry has felt more pressure meeting needs.

“We get all our food from the Iowa Food Bank,” Tiger Pantry Volunteer Laurie McBeth said. “We’re having a real supply chain issue with nutritious food.”

“We used to have a list of five pages with available items we could get every month,” she said. “It gets smaller and smaller every month, and now we are down to a page and a half. Most of that was rice, beans, and pasts, which we have plenty of.”

McBeth expressed concerns that the pantry could not get fruits or vegetables from the Iowa Food Bank.

She also stated that the protein choices were sparse and they rarely receive milk, eggs, or butter.

“I know rice and beans sustains a lot of people, but a lot of that doesn’t sit well with our kids,” McBeth said.

McBeth trusts the New London community to gather around and support the pantry, though.

“They want to help,” she said. “They just don’t always know how. We are highly appreciative of any donation.”

To donate to the Tiger Food Pantry, McBeth says many community members reach out to her personally, or they drop donations at the administration office for the school district.

Despite the pressures of the increases at food pantries, McBeth is grateful to offer the resource to more people and encourages anyone in need to reach out.

While the Tiger Food Pantry originally only served families with students in the New London School District, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they opened their doors to the whole community.

“The food bank was opened to everyone and our influx of senior citizens was unbelievable,” McBeth said. “And they weren't eligible before because they didn't have children in the school district. And now they are. And it's continued that way. And I hope we never change.”

“Nobody sits there outside the door going, ‘oh, my gosh, did you see Mrs. Smith go in there?’” McBeth said. “No, that doesn't happen. Nobody cares who uses it, just that they use it if they need it.”

“There shouldn't be any embarrassment, and we try to make them feel just as comfortable as we can and welcome, just like they're going to the grocery store,” she said.

With rising needs for families and the pantries, Healthy Henry County Communities launched a campaign asking residents to, “grow another row.”

The initiative is simple: if you’re growing a garden and find that you have extra produce, take those items to the following locations to share with others:

Mt. Pleasant: Community Action, Mt. Pleasant Public Library, The Fellowship Cup

New London: HJ Nugen Public Library, Tiger Food Pantry

Salem: Salem Community Center

Wayland/Crawfordsville: WACO Community Food Pantry, Wayland City Hall, Wayland Food Pantry

Winfield: MOPS-Winfield Food Pantry, Winfield City Hall

Food Pantries in Henry County

Community Action of Southeast Iowa

1303 W. Washington St., Mt. Pleasant

319-385-2310

Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

MOPS-Winfield Food Pantry

Winfield Methodist Church (current)

Summer 2023 moving to: 107 E. Elm St.

319-217-2655

Wednesdays 12-5pm

The Fellowship Cup

203 N. Jefferson St., Mt. Pleasant

319-385-3242

Thursdays 10am-4pm

Delivery to Hillsboro and Salem available

Tiger Food Pantry

106 W. Wilson St., New London

319-367-0512

Thursdays 3:30-6pm, Saturdays 9-11am

WACO Community Food Pantry

United Church of Crawfordsville

105 N. Chestnut St., Crawfordsville

319-461-0532

1st & 3rd Thursdays 2-3:30 for age 60+ or those needing help, ALL other shoppers 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Wayland Food Pantry

Wayland Mennonite Church

104 W. Second St., Wayland

319-591-0961

2nd & 4th Thursdays 4-6pm

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.comC