We’ve tried a couple of different things over the years: container gardening and community gardening in particular. This year we are going to ‘let the professionals’ handle it. Container gardens will continue to be part of our offerings here, but we are taking a hiatus from the Community Garden as the CSA are more cost-effective.
This spring we will be working directly with Hope Farms (a ministry of Bethlehem Christian Refugee Services). Their CSA Farm hires recently resettled refugees to work on their 5 acre farm, producing quality, weekly produce shares to be sold in the community. The partnership, works for both Hope Farms and The Pantry in a number of ways. Read full post
When The Pantry hired a very part-time social worker in the summer of 2014, believe it or not, there were friends and donors who questioned the need for such a person here. I think, most people have accepted the idea by now, but it is important to articulate why case management is so important. When we brought Stephanie Cuerrier, a health enthusiast and MSW (Master of Social Work) to join our staff, she came to implement our NOW (Nutritional Options for Wellness) program, which has been going gangbusters every since. Additionally, we tasked Stephanie with the broad work of ‘Referrals and Case Management’. Read full post
I just cancelled a monthly subscription to a service I hadn’t used in several months. I signed up, lost interest, schedule changed… you know how it is and paid for the service for at least another six months. It’s easy to forget! That’s the downside of monthly deductions, you can loose track of them. That same mechanism though that makes it easy for us to start something and then forget about it can also be used for good.
Wednesday around noon, I had a young woman, not more than 30, come into The Pantry for help. She came with a friend. She lost her job a few months ago, had ‘pounded the pavement’ as the say every day since without success. Her husband abandoned her and the kids, 3 of them, when the house was foreclosed on last month. She and her 3 kids are staying with the friend that brought her. That friend has 4 kids of her own. They were worried what they were going to provide these kids for Thanksgiving. They came into The Pantry for the first time, ashamed and anxious about what they’d find here. After getting her information entered into the database and talking with her about some of the other opportunities in the area she might benefit from using, she went to shop with one of our volunteers. I saw her leaving later, both she and her friend each pushing a full cart of food. As the door was closing, she must have seen that I was smiling at that sight. She left her cart, turned around and ran back in side. She was crying and smiling and I was a little confused at first. Then she threw her arms wide and gave me a warm hug with several whispered thank yous. Some days its easy to remember why I am here.
Wednesday mornings I volunteer at ‘The Pantry’, a food bank located at John Knox Presbyterian Church. Early in the morning I sort fruits and vegetables and display them in a pleasant way for clients to pick up; ironically my first job as a young teen was sorting and displaying fruits and vegetables in an urban farm stand. Flashbacks.
At 10:00 am ‘The Pantry’ opens and I do ‘intake’ which involves talking with the clients and making entries in an area wide database that tracks income, number of people in the family, address, visits to the pantry, and the like. This not only ensures that we are serving the clients in need and prevents jumping from one pantry to another, but allows us to identify other pressing needs that can be addressed.
The Pantry is making some changes to the way we serve those in need around Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the past, individuals, social clubs and church groups had picked up information sheets for roughly 1,250 families in need of a holiday meal basket and directly provided those items needed for their holiday meal. Unfortunately, many were unable to make that connection mainly because of the transient nature of the rural/suburban poor. Many labor hours were spent each year by staff at The Pantry and at area churches; still we had unmatched families and families that could not be reached. Both donors and recipients were disappointed. Not only was the process of delivery and reception of the holiday meal baskets fraught with difficulties, but the process of families coming in and signing up for the baskets was tedious, requiring dozens of volunteers to process unnecessary paperwork; an experience that was unnecessary and dehumanizing. Read full post
A 30th anniversary only comes around once and we’d like to celebrate with you! We’d like to celebrate you and your relationship with The Pantry at a fundraising event on October 1, 2015. Whether you are a longtime supporter or new to the work we do, we want to have you come out and joing us for lunch. We’ll be honoring a supporting business partner, a few key support churches and a longtime volunteer from John Knox Presbyterian Church.
The Pantry started as a ministry of John Knox in 1985. During interviews with volunteers and members of John Knox Church last year, a few older members remembered that during 1985, 30 years ago, a small food ministry began with funds being set aside and groceries purchased across the street at the grocery store, then delivered from the trunk of a family car by volunteers as needed.That continued for a few years until donations of food and volume of need required a larger closet be cleared for them; this is where the real roots of what we have become took hold.
Fill it up
We’ve become acutely aware that for many area children we are their best hope for a hunger-free summer and a smooth transition back to school. We are always looking for ways to help the 3,500 children who come to The Pantry with their parents each year. In the past, we have always haphazardly distributed school supplies to those who asked for them from what we had received. Since the start of school is almost a month away we’d like to organize a giveaway for 100 children in our service area. Our goals is to collect the items below and assemble backpacks to give away. School starts in nearby districts on September 8, 2015. We’ll announce a date for distribution during the week before the Labor Day holiday.
If you are out gathering up supplies for your little ones or grandchildren pick up a few extra for us at The Pantry or give on-line and we’ll buy the items for you! Just click here -> Back2School Supplies
Our NOW (Nutritional Options for Wellness) Pantry, is a collaborative work with Spectrum Health and Access of West Michigan, helping people with chronic health conditions to take control of their illness. This is our second year as a NOW Pantry site. At The Pantry we love this program! The program facilitates change, real change in peoples’ lives. Reducing health concerns for one person adds huge value back into the community by returning people to greater productivity, helping lower everyone’s overall health costs, and increasing quality of life. Even the social safety net receives a reprieve when someone’s health is restored and their illnesses managed!
Anyone who’s been to London or watches enough BBC America, knows the phrase Mind the Gap. The expression is a warning to keep an eye out and don’t slip between the train and the platform, that gap can be very dangerous. But I am thinking of another dangerous gap, the one between adequate groceries and food insecurity and a different sense of the word mind, not look out for, but be upset by this gap.
We should mind the gap, mind that there is a gap for many between having enough and not nearly having enough. There should be a bit of indignation in our voices when we say that there are hungry people in this country of plenty an right here in our own community. Summer is a time of particular need. Kids are out of school, kids who would normally be receiving lunch provided for free and a take home supper are home during the summer months in households that struggle to bridge the divide of their ‘grocery gap’. In an early BLOG I wrote, I outlined the problem in detail; so, I will spare you more on that here. Instead, let me tell you about one our neighbors, Trina… Read full post
Summer isn’t all about sand castles, white beaches and cold beverages on hot days, especially not if you are one of the 20,000 children who receive free lunch at school while it is in session or if you are the hard working parents of those kids that, come June, have to scramble to find enough food to put on the table while school is out. If their children are receiving a free lunch, likely they are also taking home a sack supper for later. During those 10 or 11 weeks of summer, parents, often times a single parent, spend double for weekly groceries than during the school year. Read full post
