Local food banks filling a need

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

More people, including newcomers, are seeking food from some local pantries as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
During the month of March there was a 49 percent increase in the number people going to a food pantry for the first time, said Jean McMurray, executive director of the Worcester County Food Bank in Shrewsbury. This data was compiled last week from reports by the agencies that pick up free food at the food bank and give it to their own clients, she said. Some Catholic parishes and agencies are among those that receive food from the regional food bank.
The first full week of April the food bank gave out 17 percent more food than last year during the same week. Last week it gave its partner agencies 24 percent more food than the previous year, Ms. McMurray said.
The food bank gets donated food to give its partners from the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program, the United States Department of Agriculture and local food drives, supermarkets and farms, she said. But supermarkets are not donating as much now, because customers are buying more.
Unlike in the past, to stay ahead of the demand the food bank buys some of the food it distributes, Ms. McMurray said. It has started buying food from the grocery purchase program of Feeding America, a national network of food banks, and from Project Preserve, a service program of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.
Lately, Catholic Charities in Leominster, one of the food bank’s partners, has been getting food there weekly instead of making the previous monthly trip, said Maritza Cedeno, area administrator.
Before the pandemic, the Leominster office got 45 to 50 percent of its food from the food bank, and the rest from local churches and food drives, she said. But now churches are closed and fundraisers have stopped. So most of their food comes from the food bank, and the rest is purchased with grants and donations from individuals and organizations.
Catholic Charities’ food pantry served 622 individuals in February, and in March the number jumped to 989, Miss Cedeno said.
Some of the clients are new: “people who own businesses … waitresses, hairdressers,” people employed in non-critical areas of healthcare, whose salaries are too high for them to qualify for food stamps, Miss Cedeno said. And some people who have not come to the food pantry in awhile are returning because their work hours have been cut.
Catholic Charities now has to apply for grants to buy toiletries and household essentials, previously donated by churches, for its hygiene pantry, Miss Cedeno said. Food for its pet pantry is donated by Phinney’s Friends in Lincoln, and diapers for the diaper pantry were purchased with leftover Federal Emergency Management Agency money, she said.
Worcester County Food Bank gave another partner, Pernet Family Health Service in Worcester, $2,000 to help it rent a truck to pick up food there, said Sheilah Dooley, Pernet’s executive director.
Pernet uses money donated by other agencies, organizations and individuals to buy more food and diapers, she said.
The second week of March Pernet saw a 40 percent increase over the previous week in the number of new families coming to its food pantry, Mrs. Dooley said. She figured some might have never been to a food pantry, and some might have previously gone to one that is now closed.
In March Pernet’s food pantry gave out enough food for 729 individuals, she said.
Last week fewer people came than the previous week, but she reasoned that that could have been because of stricter “stay-at-home orders” or because welfare and social security money had not yet run out.
“We’re taking anybody now,” not just people in Pernet’s zip code, as was the previous practice, she said.
“We are now open two days a week practicing social distancing while still making sure every family is treated with respect. Part of our service includes emergency assistance and so we are also connecting families to other resources in the community such as guiding them on how to apply for SNAP (food stamp) benefits,” Mrs. Dooley said.
The numbers of people coming to the weekly food pantry at the Mustard Seed in Worcester have “stayed fairly steady,” said Paula Bushey, treasurer. She said they get about 35 individuals and families.
The Mustard Seed is better known for its nightly meal cooked by various volunteers. But that has changed a bit since the pandemic.
“We’ve seen some new faces,” and “some of our regular guests are staying home,” Ms. Bushey said.
Sixty to 70 people per night pick up what is now a bagged meal instead of a sit-down hot meal, she said. Churches and other volunteer groups are being asked to provide 125 meals, so some guests can have more than one meal and 25 can be given to South Middlesex Opportunity Council for people it serves.