March 06, 2009
Local food pantries seeing many new faces
Dayton Daily News
By: Margo Rutledge Kissell
Staff Writer
Friday, March 06, 2009
Jeremy Kantz said it wasn't easy for him to come to the Northeast Churches' Emergency Center pantry for food, but he had no choice.
He and fiancee Melinda Aytes have a 4-year-old son at home. They also live with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, who is temporarily laid off from his seasonal work laying asphalt.
"I'm just grateful there's someone who can help us, especially in these hard times," Aytes said as the couple sat with a room full of others waiting to be helped.
The pantry at 359 Maryland Ave. sees about 25 families a day, but sometimes the number climbs past that.
Volunteer Nanette Brawley said she sees a lot of new faces and people who say they've never had to go to a food pantry before.
"You always hear 'I'm only doing this until I get a job or my unemployment kicks in,' " she said at the pantry, which serves
residents living in the 45404, 45414 and 45424 zip codes from 1 to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Volunteer Fran Evans, a retired school teacher, was working the day 39 families showed up. That kept the team of volunteers busy filling bags with food. With each order, they spring into action pulling cereal, macaroni and cheese, bread and other items from the shelves.
On Wednesday, an order came in for a family of four.
"If I know there are kids, I put in corn and leave the peas out," Evans said.
The Foodbank Inc., which provides food to 75 agencies, including food pantries and soup kitchens, is on pace to distribute 30 percent more food this fiscal year than the 3.1 million pounds it distributed in fiscal year 2008. That's because many of the agencies have been seeing more people coming in for help.
At the Fairborn FISH pantry, volunteers served 371 families in January, 58 more than the previous January.
"We're busy, unfortunately," said Robert Andes, food coordinator for the 1149 N. Broad St. pantry, which is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays to any resident of Fairborn or Bath Twp. "We're one of the few growth industries."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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