The First Presbyterian Church of Lansing, 510 W Ottawa St., changed the way they run their food pantry to better fit the needs to users. Pantry operator Ron O’Connor explains why the self-serve food pantry is more efficient than some of the past.
On the fourth Thursday of November each year, Angelia Beasley doesn’t always cook a turkey or make sweet potatoes.
Nor does she always invite her children and grandchildren to her home to celebrate. That’s because the 43-year-old Lansing woman does not always have a Thanksgiving dinner — not since she began living on food stamps.
This year, however, she is thankful she will be able to host a family Thanksgiving dinner at her home, with her children, grandchildren and the turkey she bought with a gift card given to her by Mobile Food Pantry.
“Turkey, sweet potatoes, stuff like that — everybody’s not lucky enough to get it, but I’m thankful and I’m grateful,” she said.
Beasley, who is unemployed, is one of an increasing number of individuals in Michigan and nationwide who look to food pantries for assistance in the face of tough economic times.
Keeping the shelves filled
During the past year, food distribution to needy individuals across the state increased by about 20 percent to 30 percent, said Jane Marshall, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan.
“It’s just one more symptom of our bad economy,” she said.
Marshall said the organization, which provides food to about 2,500 pantries and kitchens statewide, has been able to keep its shelves filled through donations and fundraising.
But there is a widening gap between the amount of food needed and the amount available, Marshall said.
“We’re trying to fill this hole, and it’s just kind of like a bottomless pit,” she said. “Sometimes, the demand just doesn’t slow down — not in this past couple years.”
In Lansing, the number of people seeking aid from food pantries has increased by about 25 percent during the past year, said Terry Link, executive director for the Greater Lansing Food Bank. About 210 families made their first visit to one of Ingham County’s food pantries in the past month and at least 40,000 individuals are being served in the Tri-County area, he said.
The people who use the services sometimes are wrestling with conflicts, such as a sick family member who needs medication. This causes their income to dwindle at the end of the month, Link added.
“If we can plug one piece of the composite puzzle, they can plug the other pieces,” he said.
Making food stretch
Before she discovered Lansing’s Mobile Food Bank, Beasley said she was making food stretch: She had to make the $90 she received monthly in food stamps last until the next month.
She bought bags of chicken leg quarters instead of entire chickens. She ate less. She missed meals.
“I’m not going to say I was starving,” Beasley said. “I wasn’t starving, but I was lacking a lot of food groups. … What I’ve got I can make last until it’s stamp time.”
But Beasley said visits from Lansing’s Mobile Food Bank, a food pantry on wheels that she called “a beautiful thing,” has helped her situation.
Joan Jackson Johnson, director of Human Relations and Community Services of Lansing, said the Mobile Food Bank, which travels around Lansing neighborhoods and stops to dole out food, attracts lines of people that form hours before it opens.
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“The last mobile food pantry line was almost down the block,” Johnson said. “The pantry started at 10 a.m. The first individual arrived at 2 a.m., so that’s a statement in itself.”
Although there is a “great attempt” to meet the needs of individuals in the Lansing area, the needs of every individual in the community are not being fulfilled, Johnson said.
“It still is not enough for a lot of people to go by,” she said. “What do you prioritize? Feeding your family or paying your rent?”
About 18,000 out of the 41,000 Lansing individuals identified as living in poverty are not being served by community organizations, Johnson said. Between 20 percent and 28 percent of people being provided for in homeless shelters are not homeless — they’re hungry and drawn there in the hope of finding free food with no questions asked, she said.
The giving season
The holiday season brings out increased donations each year, Linke, Marshall and Johnson said.
Marshall said the extra food collected during the holiday season sometimes lasts through the winter.
“This is what we call the giving season, when people are just thinking about caring, thinking about sharing,” Marshall said. “Also, with the holidays, everyone is thinking about food.”
Marshall said she can hear the relief in people’s voices when she tells them she can help.
“We know giving someone a box of food isn’t going to solve all their problems, but the fact that someone cares and is willing to give just for the sake of giving is very reassuring to people,” she said.
