Food pantries running bare in archdiocese

By Eileen Connelly, OSU and David Eck

ARCHDIOCESE — At a time when many of us are focused on Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, decorating our homes and baking cookies, our own neighbors may be wondering if there will be presents under the tree or a delicious meal on the table.

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St. Al’s gives to Manna Food Pantry: Students at St. Aloysius on the Ohio School in Sayler Park helped the cause of food collection in the region and collected non-perishable food over the holiday season, donating it to Manna Food Pantry in Price Hill. Students were able to fill an entire stairway in their school’s hallway with canned goods and other non-perishable items. Manna Food Pantry volunteer Henry Knopf, above, loads his truck with the food donated by the students.

"This has been a really, really tough year for donations," said Liz Carter, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. "It’s been a day to day, week to week challenge to keep the shelves full. We’ve had to make the decision that, instead of giving people six or seven days worth of food, we’re going to give three or four days of food."

Carter attributes the shortage to a variety of factors, including increased demand and tighter inventory controls that have left supermarkets and other retailers with fewer products to donate. "Times are just harder for people," she added. "Everyone is struggling and has increased expenses, so there are fewer people writing a donation check or giving a bag of food."

St. Vincent de Paul provides a number of programs to assist those in need during the holidays that have been impacted by the shortage. This includes the Food from the Heart campaign, through which non-perishable food items are collected and distributed. The drive runs through the end of December, and canned goods are still desperately needed. Donations can be dropped into the barrels at all Greater Cincinnati area Kroger Stores. There is also the Adopt-a-Family Program that provides holiday presents to needy neighborhood families and children through the generosity of individuals, groups and businesses. At presstime, sponsors for the program were still needed. For more information, or to make a donation to St. Vincent de Paul visit www.svdpcincinnati.org or call 513-562-8841. Monetary donations can be sent to the Society of St. Vincent De Paul, 1125 Bank Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45214.

In Dayton, increasing consumer prices and a tough job market are challenging local food pantries and The Foodbank, which supplies them.

"Need has really increased," said Linda Roepken, associate executive officer of The Foodbank. "The last time I actually crunched our numbers, about a month ago, our demand for food was up over seven percent, and our donations of food were down four percent."

The Foodbank acts as a clearinghouse for food pantries, soup kitchens and food shelters in Montgomery, Preble and Greene counties. It serves about 90 different programs.

The Foodbank receives food from direct donations, America’s Second Harvest and state and federal governments. The economic climate is negatively affecting all three areas.

Politics is even playing a role, as the Farm Bill languishes, Roepken said. The bill provides government funding for food programs.

"The biggest problem facing us now is the Farm Bill is stalled in the Senate," Roepken said. "We really need our senators to develop the bill so this money can go out."

An often overlooked cause of decreasing food available for the hungry can be found in the food manufacturing process itself. Processors donate food that is safe to eat but surplus because of overruns or mistakes in packaging.

But as manufacturers become more efficient in food production, there are fewer errors and waste, Roepken said.

"It used to be we got a lot of food from the food industry becasue there were mistakes. There is less food to donate," she said. "That’s really how food banking started, because of the mistakes of the food industry.’’

As a result, pantries, which get the bulk of their supplies from The Foodbank, are seeing some shortages.

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St. Aloysius students show a stairwell filled with food items they’ve collected.

Serving those in need in the ’04 zip code, Easterman said the food pantry would be providing holiday food baskets for 150 families with the assistance of St. John Parish in West Chester. Students from Elder and St. Xavier high schools will also deliver baskets to another 250-plus families. "We’re covered for Christmas as far as these families but still need more food," said Esterman. "We’re still getting about 15 to 20 calls a day from people asking to be put on the waiting list, so will need food to meet these requests. We don’t turn anybody away. If we have food, we give it to the people."

Esterman stressed that donations are needed year round, not just during the holidays. With the number of working poor in the area on the rise, the requests for assistance have also increased, she said. This has been reflected not only via the food pantry, but also through the St. Michael’s Supper Club, a hot meal offered nightly the last full week of each month and open to anyone in need. "Our numbers have really gone up," Esterman said. "We’ve been serving as many as 1,000 people in a week."

In addition to food, St. Michael’s is also in need of financial donations to continue to meet its operating expenses and remain a "Catholic presence" in the neighborhood, said Esterman. Donations can be mailed to 2104 St. Michael St., Cincinnati 45204, attention Margaret Fritz, or dropped off at the same address Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 513-921-0766.

"The demand is going up, the budget has been cut from the government and they just don’t have it," said Avalon Matczynski, director of Assumption Food Pantry in Dayton. "It’s getting to be worse every day.’’

To help supplement what it receives from The Foodbank, Matczynski has appealed to local parishes for help — even some that aren’t in the immediate area that the Assumption pantry serves.

"We’re having to go the parishioners to beg a little more for donations," Matczynski said. "If I say I need it, they bring. It’s been very fortunate that way.’’

Formed over 30 years ago, Assumption Food Pantry is one of the oldest pantries in Dayton, said Matczynski, a retired high school counselor. It was created by the former Assumption Parish.

Though the pantry tries to provide the families they help with food for balanced meals, some of the necessities — cereal, milk, soap, toilet paper — are becoming scarce.

"It’s been getting worse because they’ve had all the layoffs from Delphi and General Motors," Matczynski said. "People just can’t make it. They’re having big trouble."

She will sometimes use cash donations to purchase items that aren’t donated — as long as she can get a deal.

"I’ll talk to anybody and see what kind of deal they can give me," Matczynski said. "Everything is going up. At one time what I thought was a good deal, I don’t think it’s a good deal anymore.’’

The story is the same at the food pantry operated by Catholic Social Services in Dayton.

"There is a chronic need for food both in quantity and quality of food," said Regina Estep, director of marketing for CSS of the Miami Valley. "We have asked several of our local church communities to rededicate themselves to support of our food pantry. We’re lucky that we have several church that provide support."

Those churches include St. Charles Borromeo and St. Albert the Great in Kettering and Holy Trinity Parish in Dayton.

There’s been consistent support," Estep said. "We haven’t seen an increase in support as much as we’ve scene an increase in need, though. There’s been more space on the shelves than we like to see.’’
The shortages affect the quality of the food the pantries can provide.

"For those family who rely on the pantry for food the quantity and the quality of the food varies," Estep said. "What we’re able to collect and distribute is short in protein. Those types of things are more expensive."