The Ozark Food Pantry has outgrown its space, and the yearslong search for a new, larger building is continuing, pantry officials say.
The organization, which provides food for people in the Pevely, Herculaneum, Crystal City, Festus and Hematite areas, has sought more space for its operations for several years and has not yet found the right location, said Carmelita Davidson, president of the charity.
For more than 30 years, the organization has distributed food out of a building owned by the city of Festus in Sunset Park.
“We need help to find a place,” Davidson said of the organization that was formed in 1985. “We need a bigger building. It’s to accommodate the high attendance of the Ozark Food Pantry. We’ve been in this building since 1993. And we’ve really outgrown this place based on the clients in need.”
The group formed originally in 1985, she said.
She said she appreciates that Festus leaders allow the pantry to use the building, but a larger location is essential. The Sunset Park building is about 1,800 square feet and has a basement.
“I would like a building twice as big, definitely,” Davidson said. “We’ve had different potentials that weren’t really conducive to our needs. We want one that’s more handicap-accessible or which we can renovate if it’s not.”
She said they would prefer no basements in the building because stairs can be problematic for older volunteers.
She said maintaining the privacy of the pantry’s clients is another factor in locating another spot.
“My dream is at least an acre and a half or two,” she said. “It’s just not that we’re looking for a place. I need to protect the clients. Confidentiality is important to me, and respect and dignity are important to me for the clients.
“We have veterans who don’t want to come because of their pride,” she said. “We’ve had people in who, I won’t say well-to-do, but they lose their job. I don’t want to be judgmental. When people are in the line, if I see them in a Cadillac, I don’t ask them why. My job is to feed the needy people.”
Ozark Food Pantry leaders also do not want to create a traffic problem wherever they end up. Davidson said she wants to stay in the Festus-Crystal City area and not move too far away from their client base.
“We’ve had leads for a new site, probably two or three,” she said. “But, I always share this with the volunteers, because they’re the ones who are going to be driving far or close. A couple of the (sites) were not conducive to us.
“We don’t want to create heavy congestion that will create an accident,” she said. “And we don’t want to be so far away for the people in need that they have to drive very far.”
Need for help has grown
In the last five or so years, she said, the need for free food jumped in the community.
“After COVID, we were only serving 75 families,” Davidson said. “Now, we’re serving 150, 180 – something like that. That’s every other week (with half of the client list coming each distribution).
“The reason for that is inflation, the high cost of living. People are getting laid off. They’ve got no place to go except the food pantry, which is the Ozark Food Pantry.
“We help anybody who’s in need,” she said. “The only requirement is they need to provide how many live in the household – their names, ages and dates of birth.
“This is my thinking, if a person is hungry, I don’t care where you’re at,” she said. “If you knock on the door, I’m not going to send him away.”
While a new building remains a long-term project, the pantry could use assistance now in its food distribution efforts, she said.
She has more than 20 regular volunteers and a few others who help “here and there.”
“Most of these people are retired,” she said, she said of her regular volunteers.
“Without the dedicated volunteers, the place would not have gone on long ago,” she said. “They work effortlessly, Monday through Saturday. I always look for new volunteers, especially during the week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.”
She said she has a greater need for additional volunteers on weekdays because the pantry gets help on weekends from students.
The organization distributes food from 11 a.m. to noon Fridays to licensed caregivers and 8:30-10:45 a.m. Saturday to members of the community.
“That’s for the community,” she said. “And the line is very, very long. A couple of clients spend a night here in their car.”
Davidson said donations to the organization may be mailed to Ozark Food Pantry, P.O. Box 841, Festus 63028.
For more information, visit the organization’s website at ozarkfoodpantry.org, go to its page on Facebook or send emails to ozarkfoodpantry@gmail.com.