The food pantry in Jefferson has seen a rather large increase in usage this summer.
Greene County Action Resource Center Manager Shirley Haupert tells Raccoon Valley Radio June of 2021 there were 82 households and in July about 76 households that the food pantry served. She says this year in June there were 137 households and 125 households in July. The reason why July had less households is because there are five weeks in June compared to four weeks in July. Haupert points out they are serving record numbers of households and individuals.
“They are the biggest that we’ve seen, ever. They are bigger families, not just single individuals and older individuals that we normally serve. A lot of them tell us they may have a part time job that’s all they can get. They can’t make the dollar stretch far enough to feed everybody in the family.”
Haupert believes there are several reasons why they are seeing more people seeking food assistance and those include running out of federal stimulus money, cutbacks to federal food assistance programs and higher food costs at the grocery store, which also impacts how the food pantry operates.
“We have to search harder to find good deals. The Food Bank (of Iowa) in Des Moines tries very hard to provide us with what we need to give them the basics. We’re not a full grocery store that has every kind of fruit and vegetable that you could possibly want. But we give them definitely the basics that they can create meals for several weeks. And then we also have to buy our own stuff here in town. I definitely like to try and buy local.”
Haupert thanks the Food Bank of Iowa, along with Iowa Select for a pork donation, Tyson’s in Perry for donating pork loin and chicken, the Greene County Cattlemen’s Association for its beef donation and the Thomas Jefferson Gardens of Greene County for donating locally grown produce. Haupert welcomes any kind of food or monetary donation to help keep up with the increased demand. Contact Haupert at 515-386-8168 to make a donation or to be a volunteer to help when the food pantry is open on Wednesdays from 9-11:30am.