Grant delay complicates life at food bank
Community Pantry, a nonprofit organization that manages to feed
more than 4,000 San Benito County residents, is in trouble.
A grant that was anticipated to arrive next month now is not
expected to arrive until early next year, leaving the pantry short
of funds until then.
Grant delay complicates life at food bank
Community Pantry, a nonprofit organization that manages to feed more than 4,000 San Benito County residents, is in trouble.
A grant that was anticipated to arrive next month now is not expected to arrive until early next year, leaving the pantry short of funds until then.
“The homeless face here is changing dramatically with all the foreclosures,” said Mary Anne Hughes, executive director of Community Pantry. “Our homeless client list has tripled since I got here, about four years ago. That doesn’t include all those people who are couch surfing.”
The delayed grant leaves the Community Pantry about $20,000 short of funds in the near term.
Last year, the organization spent about $36,000 purchasing staple items to supplement donated food. This year’s budget calls for purchasing some $70,000 in food.
There is some bright news in the crisis.
“The Packard Foundation has decided San Benito County is within their sphere of influence,” Hughes said. A major charitable foundation, Packard’s staff is working with Gary Byrne of the Community Foundation for San Benito County. Byrne is bundling requests for funds, since the Packard Foundation typically works with larger organizations and makes larger disbursements.
Community Pantry was assured of support from the Packard Foundation, Hughes said, but total requests from local agencies climbed above $250,000, the threshold Packard has that requires approval by the foundation’s board of directors.
The board will not meet again until December, leaving Community Pantry waiting for its funds.
At the same time, a tattered economy is manifesting itself in increased demand.
“We’ve increased [numbers served] this year already more than we increased in all of last year,” Hughes said. “Most of us drive from home to work, and we don’t see the whole community.”
Hughes said some of her new clients are people who used to support Community Pantry. One worked the front desk of a large real estate firm for 25 years. Today, she relies on groceries from Community Pantry as she looks for work and worries about losing her house.
“We’re borderline able to keep up now,” Hughes said. “We will rely more and more on outside grants. With Packard, the timing couldn’t be better.”
And it’s not just funding and food that is in danger of falling short at Community Pantry. Volunteers, some active since the organization was founded in 1989, are aging. People receiving food from the Pantry are expected to contribute work in food distribution. But of the 4,000 clients, 2,200 are children, 600 are elderly or disabled, shrinking the number of those available to volunteer.
“The overall need is growing and we need community support as much as we can,” she said. “We’re working hard to get outside support in but it’s our community and ultimately we need to take care of ourselves and our neighbors.”
The delay in the grant comes just before Community Pantry’s annual Holiday Food Drive, which was slated to begin Oct. 13. With a goal of collecting 100,000 pounds of food and $50,000 in donations by Dec. 21, the drive is the organization’s biggest of the year. Hughes described it as very important to the survival of Community Pantry.
“We are feeling – like all other food banks in the country – the effects of a perfect storm,” Hughes said. “More people are in need, food and gas prices are rising and donations from government as well as individuals are slower.
“There are still people who are not affected by what’s going on today [in the economy]. They need to look into their hearts.”
To contribute food, funds or time to Community Pantry, call 637-0340 or stop by the Pantry offices at 1133 San Felipe Road in Hollister.
