Food pantries across Jefferson County say demand is up because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has left people without jobs.
Some of the pantries also need more donations and volunteers to keep going. However, the community has stepped up to support the pantries, which is allowing them to continue feeding those who need help.
Ozark Food Pantry
The Ozark Food Pantry, which serves people in the Pevely, Herculaneum, Crystal City, Festus and Hematite areas, has so far been able to keep up with a higher demand for help with food, said Carmelita Davidson, president of the pantry, 1 Sunset Park Trail, in Sunset Park in Festus.
“Our demand has increased 30 percent since COVID-19 started in March. It used to be 85 clients a week. Now it’s over 100 clients per week,” she said.
“People in the community are getting together to help. The Food Bank of St. Louis helps us always; Operation Food Search also helps us. We’ve been getting help from schoolteachers from Festus and Crystal City.”
Davidson said the Ozark Food Pantry has about 20 volunteers, but only uses 10 at a time now because of the pandemic.
“We are following the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and regulations,” she said. “We also follow the Jefferson County Health Department guidelines of wearing masks and the gloves. We’re also disinfecting the food that people are donating. We tell them to put the bags of donations on the steps and we disinfect the bags before we bring them inside. We spray and wipe the packaging.”
Davidson said the pantry gives out food each week on Friday and Saturday, and clients pick up the food curbside.
“On Fridays we have caregivers pick up food for the homebound. We give it out from 11 a.m. to noon on Fridays. On Saturdays we have general food distribution. We start taking names at 8 a.m. We give out food 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.”
The pantry can always use more donations, Davidson said.
“We take everything – all kinds of food,” she said. “Anyone who comes to us and is hungry, we serve them. As long as we have food, we’re going to serve them.”
To donate food or money, or for more information, call 636-933-9974.
De Soto Food Pantry
The De Soto Food Pantry, 705 E. Stone St., also has seen an increase in demand, Jan Bowden said.
“We’re getting more calls than usual,” she said. “We’ll do 150 to 200 families or individuals.”
The De Soto Food Pantry serves those who live in the De Soto School District, with or without schoolchildren in the family.
The pantry is keeping up with higher demand, but donations are needed, she said.
“We’ll take any shelf-stable food – nonperishables.”
Bowen said the food pantry also needs more volunteers.
“We normally have 20 to 30 volunteers. But, there (has been) a big drop because most of our volunteers are older and should be staying home,” she said.
The De Soto Food Pantry distributes food once a month, from 9 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday.
“It will be handled as a drive-thru. They will not be coming into the building,” Bowden said.
To donate food or sign up to volunteer, or for more information, call 636-586-7300.
Peace Pantry
Unlike the other food pantries, the Peace Pantry in Cedar Hill still allows its clients to pick out their own groceries, although only five are allowed in the pantry at one time, said Linda Schroeder, the pantry president.
“We all don’t like the same food, so if I give you a box and you don’t like green beans, I just wasted a can of green beans,” she said.
She said the pantry has a client list of about 225 families and recently added some new ones from the Robertsville area after a pantry there closed.
Pantry board member Delmar Pagel said each family is screened before getting food from the pantry. He said the family has to provide information on income and number of family members. However, anyone can get food on their first visit before becoming an official client.
Schroeder said the pantry always is looking for donations, but has had enough food for clients.
“I am always low on peanut butter, jelly and hamburger helper and canned fruit,” she said.
Schroeder said the pantry has been giving clients a little extra to help during the pandemic, and was able to distribute some toilet paper and cleaning supplies.
She said clients do their shopping at the food pantry on Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings. On April 9, the pantry served 150 families, Schroeder said.
Schroeder said the pantry typically has about 100 volunteers, but many are older and are staying home now, so the pantry is down to about 20 volunteers. However, they’ve been able to keep up so far.
“Our volunteers are really stepping up to the plate and doing really excellent work,” she said. “I really appreciate what they are doing.”
Schroeder said all the volunteers are wearing masks and gloves.
She said about 95 percent of the clients have been wearing masks when they come to shop.
The pantry has closed its thrift shop for the time being.
Those who would like to donate to the pantry may drop off nonperishable food outside the door and for larger donations, they may knock on the door during pantry hours, which are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Pagel said the pantry serves parts of House Springs, Cedar Hill, Dittmer, Hillsboro, Eureka, Pacific, Catawissa and Robertsville.
For more information about volunteering or becoming a client, call 636-285-0934.
Arnold Food Pantry
Ed Fitzhenry, executive director for the Arnold Food Pantry, said the pantry, 2024 Key West Drive, will continue to help those who need food for as long as the organization can.
“We don’t want to close, but I can’t say that is never a possibility,” Fitzhenry said. “We have to watch the pandemic day by day, and we will look to our government leaders to see what steps we should be taking.”
He said the pantry will stay open unless someone inside the facility is diagnosed with coronavirus, if it has too few volunteers to operate, or if a government body recommends closure.
“No one has shown symptoms of having the virus,” Fitzhenry said of those connected with the pantry.
He did say about 15 of the organization’s regular 40 volunteers have had to step away because of their age or because they have a family member with a compromised immune system.
“We have had others who are off work and have time on their hands step in,” Fitzhenry said.
The pantry also is not short on people who need help getting food, especially with the pandemic affecting Jefferson County residents’ finances.
The pantry had been serving more than 1,100 people a month. But Fitzhenry said at the start of April that about four new people were coming in each day.
“Some of the (new) walk-ins have been people who have recently become unemployed,” he said. “Our expectations is those numbers (of new clients) will grow over the next several months.”
Fitzhenry said the availability of food is improving, after supplies were limited when the pandemic first started to spread in early March.
“The community has been wonderful,” he said. “Daily, we have people come by and drop off 20, 30 or 50 pounds of food.”
That extra help is needed, Fitzhenry said, since the pantry’s annual fundraisers may not be held as planned this year.
Fitzhenry said altogether those fundraisers typically generate between $15,000 and $20,000 a year for the pantry, so individual donations will help fill the gap.
Because of the coronavirus, the pantry created a drive-through method to distribute food. Fitzhenry said those who come to pick up food remain in their vehicles in the pantry’s parking lot, and a volunteer gets information from the clients, who then drive to the back of the pantry where volunteers load the food into their vehicles.
All those volunteers wear gloves and masks, Fitzhenry said.
He said the volunteers inside the pantry also wear gloves and masks and adhere to the social-distancing recommendations as much as possible.
The pantry’s service area covers most of northern Jefferson County, as well as eligible veterans in need anywhere in the county.
Salvation Army food pantry
The Salvation Army’s Midland Division is providing pre-packaged food to those who need it at its Arnold location.
Food is handed out between 9:30-11:45 a.m. on Wednesdays at the Arnold Community Center food pantry, 3750 Telegraph Road.
Those who need food may stop at the Arnold center once a month to get some, Capt. Amanda Hellstrom said in an email.
She said volunteers pre-pack boxes of food, and when clients come to the center, they stay in their vehicles, and then volunteers put the food into their vehicles.
Hellstrom said a case manager collects information from clients and requests a photo ID.
She said the pantry typically feeds about 160 families per month.
“I’m not sure how many will be new families impacted by the virus,” Hellstrom said.
For more information about the Salvation Army’s food pantry, call 636-464-0787.