Cache residents show charity through local food pantry
Tuesday morning is a magnificent time for shopping despite the frigid cold and the large flakes of falling snow. There are cans of corn, limit two. Bags of rice, limit one. There are even some large roasts that would be perfect for a Sunday dinner, limit one. The shopping is all done in an orderly fashion and when they have all the food they need, instead of paying hundreds of dollars for that week’s groceries, the customers just walk away, food tightly tucked away in a box.
The Cache Community Food Pantry is doing quite well despite a suffering economy and an increase in clientele, said Matt Whitaker, the director. Whitaker said every family has different needs, so there are different rules and regulations for each family. There’s nothing set in stone about how many times a family can go to the pantry. The amount of food that the customers can take per week can total up to $400, Whitaker said. The pantry doesn’t just hand out boxes of food because there are some foods that people do not like and would not use, so to avoid waste, he allows the customers to choose what food they want. And despite growing numbers there is still enough food for everyone to get what they need.
“This time last year we had about 85 families a week and now we have more than 145 a week,” Whitaker said.
Despite a rapid increase in people using their services, the pantry in Cache Valley has been able to keep pace due to a charitable holiday season. However, this is not a statewide trend and many other food banks and pantries across the state are currently facing tough times, Whitaker said.
“In the six years that I’ve been here, I have never seen as many donations,” he said. “The community should be commended. I need a bigger building.”
Whitaker also said during the holidays, he had to turn away volunteers because there were many people trying to help where they could. But as far as volunteers go, there is a steady stream from an unlikely source in Cache Valley – inmates from the local prison. Whitaker said most days there is an inmate that will come to clean up, empty the trash and do whatever other task that needs to be done.
Local businesses in Cache Valley offer what they can to the food pantry, donating everything from bread, meat and canned foods. The pantry also has several food drives throughout the year and other organizations such as the Stuff-a-Bus program run by the Val R. Christensen Service Center on campus. Some of the local companies that lend a hand are Lee’s Marketplace, Macy’s, Gossner Foods and Smith’s.
“We got so much food from that Stuff-a-Bus program,” he said, “I don’t know what we would have done without it.”
Nevertheless, Cache County is doing much better than other counties, and when there are surpluses, the Cache County Food Pantry gives the extra food to local senior citizens centers and food banks in Box Elder County.
“I go to the statewide meetings, and other directors tell me that they have to turn people away because they just don’t have enough food,” Whitaker said. “I am just grateful that I haven’t had that problem. But I could be faced with it later. I just don’t know.”
However, Utah is faring quite well in comparison to some other states in the nation, said Jessica Pugh, public relations director for the Utah Food Bank. While the increased need for the food banks’ services is about average in Utah compared to other states, the amount of food that is being donated is also increasing.
“Even though we are getting more donations, the need is unprecedented and is easily and quickly outpacing the amount of food that we are receiving,” Pugh said.
In the past year there has been a 30 percent increase in the need for the food bank and other similar services, Pugh said.
According to the Utah Food Bank’s Web site, roughly 10 percent of Utahns live in poverty and less than half take advantage of the programs offered. About one in eight children live in poverty and 40 percent, or approximately 300,000 students are on a free or reduced lunch program with the public schools. About 345,700 individuals are at risk of skipping a meal because they don’t have enough to eat.
The Web site also reports nationally, more than 30 million people are on food stamps, marking the highest amount ever. The high unemployment rates and rising food costs are to blame for the increase in the number of recipients.
Whitaker said anyone can be affected by the suffering economy and there is an increasingly diverse group of people using the pantry. There are no racial or economic boundaries for the current financial crisis, he said.
“There’s a growing need and everyone is facing it,” Whitaker said. “But there’s never a shortage of volunteers.”
Whitaker said the ability to receive assistance from the Cache Community Food Pantry is assessed on an individual basis.
First, Whitaker said the applicant must be a citizen. Their income is also a factor. An individual with an income of less than $1,300 gross per month will qualify for assistance. Whitaker said some people come in as families, while some come alone. Some have never been in this situation and for others, it seems to be a cycle. Everyone has their own story. But they all have something in common: They all need a little bit of assistance.
The amount increases depending on the number of people in the family and each candidate must be interviewed by Whitaker. However, a large percentage of Cache County’s population are college students and they are not able to access the program. The exception would be college students that are married and have kids, Whitaker said.
There is a stereotype for those that would go to a food pantry when they are down on their luck, but there are plenty of people that break that mold. On any given Tuesday morning at the Cache Community Food Pantry there will be men, women, children, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians and there is no pattern or cast to be able to utilize the pantry, Whittaker said.
While Tuesday is the main shopping day, the pantry is open five days a week and can always offer enough to make it to the next Tuesday, Whitaker said.
“No one goes hungry,” he said.
There are only two employees at the Cache Community Food Bank. The two employees are in charge of running food drives, organizing other activities and helping other community centers, such as senior citizen’s centers, Whitaker said.
Whitaker said the Cache Community Food Pantry held a fundraiser Feb. 24 with local restaurants. For that day, a portion of the profits were donated to the pantry.
Whitaker said the pantry also runs fundraisers through schools and other community outreach programs.
“We’re here to serve the community,” he said. “It’s just that simple.”
For more information on where and how to donate go to www.utahfoodbank.org.
–seth.bracken@aggiemail.usu.edu