Food Pantry Facts
By Linda Hoover
"I lost my job this week, and I don’t know where to go," lamented the tearful young woman as she admitted that she couldn’t believe she was in this predicament.
Week after week, client after client have similar stories to tell. When they walk in the door, many of them do not even know what to do about getting food, except to explain they need help. "Can we at Fairgreen help them?" The answer is yes, and we are blessed to do so!!
How are we blessed? We are blessed to have a congregation and a coordinator, in Carol Yeager, who has been faithfully committed to this mission for over 25 years. It is an overwhelming ―loaves and fishes‖ story every month. The monthly allotment of government food received from Seagate Food Bank would provide so few meals and hardly a degree of healthy choices. Typically, we receive some kind of pasta, some kind of juice, apricots or applesauce, corn, canned potatoes, rice Krispies or corn flakes, and some kind of tomato sauce. The frozen chickens, pork cutlets, and hamburger, as well as the canned pork have not come in with our orders for the last 3 months! Such a list of items on the shelves may erroneously make the pantry look ―full and ready‖, but in fact there may be five or six boxes of the same items, and put together in a bag, the above items would not make much of a meal.
Enter….. God’s Grace….. in the form of the Fairgreen Family….
Through your monetary food pantry donations to the Deacons, your support of Deacon Fundraisers, and your generosity during special ―food drives‖ and pleas for specific food items, the food pantry is able to keep going and the cans and boxes, eggs and cheese, donated meats, fresh vegetables and Pepperidge Farm breads seem to multiply….. often just in time, as is evidenced by mid-September. As of Friday, Sept. 16, we had already served 46 families, (in a 5 Friday month) ….. remember many of these families have children.
What procedures are followed for the food pantry? Can clients go to any pantry?
Our first focus is to welcome them and to treat them like a guest. Often we need to assure them that we will do whatever we can to assist them, including listening, and caring about their circumstances. Then we establish if they reside in the zip codes of 43612, 43613, or 43623. These are the zip codes assigned to our food pantry by United Way. If a client lives in a different zip code, we assist them in calling to find the correct pantry of service in the city. ALL clients must have a referral from United Way. This referral confirms eligibility and need. Referrals are good for 3 months, then the clients must renew them by calling 211 or by visiting United Way. MANY clients show up without the knowledge of needing a referral so we aid them in calling 211 to have one faxed that very day.
Clients also show an ID, fill out forms, and sign in (so we have correct numbers for needed reports). Clients may come once a month. As they wait, they are encouraged to ―help themselves‖ to a treat offered weekly by our ―cookie lady‖, Connie Winslow, and to make themselves comfortable in the lounge.
And when clients leave…. we often send them off with a hug and a blessing.
Week after week, client after client have similar stories to tell. When they walk in the door, many of them do not even know what to do about getting food, except to explain they need help. "Can we at Fairgreen help them?" The answer is yes, and we are blessed to do so!!
How are we blessed? We are blessed to have a congregation and a coordinator, in Carol Yeager, who has been faithfully committed to this mission for over 25 years. It is an overwhelming ―loaves and fishes‖ story every month. The monthly allotment of government food received from Seagate Food Bank would provide so few meals and hardly a degree of healthy choices. Typically, we receive some kind of pasta, some kind of juice, apricots or applesauce, corn, canned potatoes, rice Krispies or corn flakes, and some kind of tomato sauce. The frozen chickens, pork cutlets, and hamburger, as well as the canned pork have not come in with our orders for the last 3 months! Such a list of items on the shelves may erroneously make the pantry look ―full and ready‖, but in fact there may be five or six boxes of the same items, and put together in a bag, the above items would not make much of a meal.
Enter….. God’s Grace….. in the form of the Fairgreen Family….
Through your monetary food pantry donations to the Deacons, your support of Deacon Fundraisers, and your generosity during special ―food drives‖ and pleas for specific food items, the food pantry is able to keep going and the cans and boxes, eggs and cheese, donated meats, fresh vegetables and Pepperidge Farm breads seem to multiply….. often just in time, as is evidenced by mid-September. As of Friday, Sept. 16, we had already served 46 families, (in a 5 Friday month) ….. remember many of these families have children.
What procedures are followed for the food pantry? Can clients go to any pantry?
Our first focus is to welcome them and to treat them like a guest. Often we need to assure them that we will do whatever we can to assist them, including listening, and caring about their circumstances. Then we establish if they reside in the zip codes of 43612, 43613, or 43623. These are the zip codes assigned to our food pantry by United Way. If a client lives in a different zip code, we assist them in calling to find the correct pantry of service in the city. ALL clients must have a referral from United Way. This referral confirms eligibility and need. Referrals are good for 3 months, then the clients must renew them by calling 211 or by visiting United Way. MANY clients show up without the knowledge of needing a referral so we aid them in calling 211 to have one faxed that very day.
Clients also show an ID, fill out forms, and sign in (so we have correct numbers for needed reports). Clients may come once a month. As they wait, they are encouraged to ―help themselves‖ to a treat offered weekly by our ―cookie lady‖, Connie Winslow, and to make themselves comfortable in the lounge.
And when clients leave…. we often send them off with a hug and a blessing.
