Five food pantries in Jefferson County received early Christmas gifts this month.
Feed My People in High Ridge, the Peace Pantry in Cedar Hill, the Hillsboro Food Pantry, the Ozark Food Pantry in Festus and the Arnold Food Pantry received $250,000 each from the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation.
That $1.25 million in grants represented most of the $1.5 million the agency was entrusted to distribute through the federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) stimulus funding approved by Congress in 2020.
“This is a real feel-good story,” said Rosie Buchanan, who, as the EDC’s assistant executive director, is responsible for administering the block grants in the county.
As part of the CARES Act, the EDC was awarded the $1.5 million automatically, she said.
“It was a special allocation for any government entity that participates in the CDBG program. We didn’t apply for it,” she said. “The stipulation is that every dollar spent had to deal with lower-income persons. There were many restrictions, and many of the allowed uses didn’t apply to our county – like renting out a motel to house COVID-19 patients – thank goodness that that wasn’t a need in our county – but one thing that did apply was the support of existing food pantries.”
Buchanan said the EDC did use some of the money to run a microenterprise program.
“That supported small businesses of five or fewer employees (with low-income people), but the applications for that ran out after about a year,” she said.
Because any unused CARES Act block grant money had to be allocated by the end of 2022 or returned to the federal government, Buchanan said, she put on her Santa Claus hat to figure out how to divvy up the remaining $1.25 million.
“I certainly didn’t want to send the money back, and we got to the 11th hour, and this seemed the best way to help everybody we could, given the restrictions,” she said.
So, Buchanan sent out email messages to the leaders of the five pantries, encouraging them to apply for the money.
She said she had already dealt with the food pantry directors earlier in the pandemic, when the federal block grant program provided $40,000 for each pantry.
“Everybody got $40,000 in initial distribution, a not-CARES Act funding as an emergency at the beginning of the pandemic,” she said. “It was to go for things like PPE (personal protective equipment) and things that would allow the pantries to operate in the middle of a pandemic.”
Once all five pantries applied for CARES Act funding, Buchanan split the remaining $1.25 million equally, with each pantry being cut a check for a quarter-million dollars.
“Under the terms of the federal guidelines, they had to be independent, stand-alone food pantries, not affiliated with a church. This was beyond my control,” Buchanan said. “Those five pantries qualified under the guidelines. And the federal government wants you to use the money equitably, and the food pantries that were eligible fortunately are located in the north, south, east, west and central parts of the county.”
She said the need is definitely there, with all the pantries serving 35 percent to 40 percent more clients now than in the pre-pandemic days.
Hillsboro Food Pantry
Mary Johnson, vice president of the board of directors of the Hillsboro Food Pantry, 10399 Business 21, said she was caught off-guard to hear the news about the grant.
“Rosie Buchanan sent an email and said there was more money available, and would we like to apply,” Johnson said. “She sent us our original application (for reference) and a new one. It didn’t ask for a specific amount. I figured if we got $2,000 or maybe as much as $5,000, or really anything, we’d just be very grateful.”
Johnson said the pantry’s board has not yet met to decide how to best allocate the money.
“I don’t know what the board will decide,” she said. “But I think we do need to be mindful and use the money wisely. If our donations dry up – and that could happen if the economy is challenging – we’ll have enough money through this grant to operate a minimum of five years. I’d like to see us treat this money the same way I think of my household income. It’s great to have this money, but what’s going to happen tomorrow? But the board will evaluate what we need and we’ll go from there.”
She said the original $40,000 grant at the beginning of COVID-19 came in handy.
“It went for general revenue,” she said. “We had asked for $10,000 because we had not been able to hold our regular yard sales because of COVID, and those were a major source of revenue. It really helped us make ends meet and give us greater flexibility.”
Johnson said she didn’t believe her eyes when she saw the check for $250,000.
“This grant is a godsend,” she said. “I thought that they must have gotten it wrong, too many zeroes and a comma in the wrong place.”
Ozark Food Pantry
Carmelita Davidson, president of the Ozark Food Pantry, 1 Sunset Park, in Festus also said no decision had been made about how the $250,000 will be spent, but her reaction was similar to Johnson’s.
“We really appreciate it. I’d like to think it’s an answer to our prayers,” she said. “I think I almost passed out when I saw the check.”
Davidson said she has some ideas about how the grant can best be used.
“I’d like to see us look for a new location,” she said.
The city of Festus offers the pantry its current facility in Sunset Park rent-free.
“We’re very grateful for it, but it needs some work, with problems with the basement ceiling and the windows, and we could really use some more room,” Davidson said. “We’re not sure that we want to put our money in there to fix up something we don’t own. I’ve always thought that if we could afford it, I’d really like to see us in a 5,000-square-foot building on a single floor. Our volunteers are not getting any younger, and they have health issues, and it would help if they’re not going up and down steps.”
Davidson said any decision will not be a hasty one.
“We will be very conservative when it comes to how we spend this money,” she said. “Like all food pantries, we have to spend our money wisely.”
Davidson said demand for services has been on a dramatic rise at the Ozark Food Pantry, which served about 70 people a week before the pandemic. Now, she said, about 200 people a week receive help.
“One difference is we’re not paying attention to ZIP codes anymore,” as the pantry had residency requirements in place. “Now, if someone knocks on our door and needs help, we don’t turn them away.”
Arnold Food Pantry
Ed Fitzhenry, executive director of the Arnold Food Pantry, 2024 Key West Drive, said he, too, was happy to learn about the grant.
“I’m gratified,” he said. “I was certainly surprised. I’m feeling very blessed. There are a lot of good vibes about this.”
Fitzhenry said the pantry’s board will meet in late January to discuss how the money will be used.
“We’d like to do some capital improvements, and maybe part of the money will be used for that, but it’s still too early to discuss that,” he said. “But I’m certain that this grant will be part of the January agenda.
“The one thing I can say is nothing will be off the table. At one time, we had a nutrition program that our families came in and got advice from a licensed nutritionist about what the best things to eat are and how to prepare them. That’s not to say that we’d use our money to bring that back, but anything we can do to help our families, that’s what we’ll want to do.”
Feed My People
The Feed My People organization runs two food pantries, one in Lemay and the other at 3295 Ottomeyer Road in High Ridge.
Under the federal guidelines, the grant from Jefferson County is to benefit only the High Ridge location.
The Rev. Christopher Boyer, executive director of the organization, said he was thrilled by the news of the grant.
“We received a grant previously from the EDC for $40,000, and they let us know they had some excess funds that we could apply for. We figured we’d again ask for $40,000, since that seemed like a good number. They said they awarded us $250,000. That was, to say the least, a huge surprise and a great blessing.”
Like the other pantry directors, Boyer said no decisions have yet been made about how to use the $250,000.
“We’re in the middle of our vision and strategic planning process for the new year, so our board will defer any specific decisions until we go through with that process, but I can assure you the money will be used in Jefferson County,” he said.
Boyer said it’s possible that the money will be used to move the High Ridge office to a larger location.
“It has been on our dream list for a while. We’ve outgrown our location in High Ridge, and it would be nice to have a larger facility. We would want to stay in High Ridge, however.”
He said much of the original $40,000 is being used for minor renovations at the current facility.
“We want to move toward a Client Choice format, which is being used successfully in our Lemay location,” he said. “Under our current model, a client comes in and picks up a grocery bag filled by a volunteer, who says, ‘Here’s your food.’
“With the Client Choice model, it looks like you’re going to a small grocery store, and the volunteers can tell clients that they can select so many items from each rack, and give nutrition advice, advice on how to prepare the food.
“We’ve found that it gives our clients a better sense of dignity, and gives them a choice on what they’d like them and their families to eat,” Boyer said. “We’ve also seen at Lemay, which has had Client Choice for a while, that we’re not seeing food that we’ve distributed that day left in the parking lot or put in a Dumpster. Some clients will say, ‘I don’t need that much. Save that for another family.’ There’s far less waste.”
Boyer said that while the shift to Client Choice is still in its early stages, he doesn’t feel setting it up at High Ridge would be a waste if the board decides to use the $250,000 toward a new location.
“Even if it takes up to six months to set up Client Choice at our current High Ridge location, the commercial real estate market being what it is, we don’t want to wait two years or more to institute Client Choice in High Ridge, and it might take that long to find a suitable location,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. If somebody walks into my office and tells me they’ve got a great building that’s available immediately, that would be a different story, but I’m not optimistic that that’s going to happen.”
However the board decides to use it, Boyer said, the $250,000 will help the pantry’s clients.
“This grant is going to be a game-changer,” he said.
Peace Pantry
Linda Schroeder, president of the Peace Pantry, 8100 S. Industrial Drive, in Cedar Hill, said the second full week of December was particularly eventful.
“All in the same week, we got a check for $225,000 from the Jefferson Foundation and a couple of days later, $250,000 from the EDC. We were really excited,” she said.
While she echoed the others and said no decisions had been made about how the grant should be used, Schroeder said it’s possible it will go toward easing housing insecurity among the county’s senior population.
“We’re doing some research into this area, and we’re really worried about the elderly,” she said. “Many older residents of our county have paid off their homes, but they can’t afford to pay their property taxes and may be at risk of losing their homes.
“There are 6,000 people on a waiting list for affordable housing,” she said. “But nobody thinks about the elderly because they aren’t typically people who would say anything about it and speak up for themselves.”
Schroeder said the grant could be used to help those people.
“We have 9 acres of property, and of that, we have about 1 1/2 that we can build on. We’ve been talking about the idea of maybe a four-plex, or maybe an emergency shelter for seniors.”
The grant from the Jefferson Foundation, she said, will be used to buy a new, larger refrigerated truck.
“We regularly drive down to Springfield, Mo., to pick up food,” she said. “A larger truck will allow us to perhaps make fewer trips, but we can also pick up food for others. We expect it’s going to be delivered in late 2023.”
The original $40,000 grant from the EDC, she said, was used to buy a new, larger freezer, which helped meet the increase in demand for food during the pandemic.
“We’re very blessed to get this money, and we will be good stewards of it,” Schroeder said. “We will figure out how to use it to best benefit our county. That is our goal.
“If we are able to do something for the elderly, we really should call it something like Rosie’s Place,” Schroeder said. “She has done so much for us and all the food pantries in the county.”
“That is so funny,” Buchanan said. “But it’s gratifying to be able to help so many people in Jefferson County.”