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Efforts help replenish local food banks
The shelves at local area food banks are full once again. In the weeks leading up to the holidays, local businesses and citizens have banded together to donate and collect thousands of pounds of food to help those less fortunate.
But the demand for food hasn't eased up in recent years. Those who run the food banks in Mountain Home admit the need has increased as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach.
For now, however, the shelves are full, and there's a sense of optimism among those running local area food banks that needy families and individuals will have the food they need as they celebrate the season of giving.
The El Ada Community Action Agency office in the Stardust Plaza was able to stock the shelves at its food pantry through donations collected during a food drive hosted by local area Boy Scouts. Saturday's effort brought in nearly 2,700 pounds of non-perishable food, said Cristella Ramirez, county coordinator with the local relief agency.
In addition to the Boy Scout effort in Mountain Home, Scouts with the Ore-Ida Council brought in an estimated 150,000 pounds of food during similar drives in communities spanning from Idaho City to Burns, Ore., said Curtis Conde with the regional Scouting organization.
Meanwhile, other food pantries in Mountain Home received large donations of boxed and canned food over the weekend during the annual "Stuff the Bus" campaign. Representatives from the Caldwell Transportation Company set up buses in front of the three local area supermarkets with people in the community contributing thousands of pounds of food.
According to Suzanne Bolin with the Caldwell Transportation Company, the bus set up in front of Wal-Mart had each of its 24 seats filled with food. Those donations went to restock the shelves at the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry on American Legion Boulevard.
"We did very well thanks to the community's help," said Carmen Metzer, a representative with the Grace Lutheran organization.
The bus company saw similar levels of support at the local Albertsons and Paul's Market with people providing an estimated 1,200 pounds of food at each location.
"Our Lady of Good Counsel now has a very full pantry," said Bolin in reference to the food bank run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
The bus company will hold a second drive from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 12 at each of the three supermarkets.
Saturday's efforts come as the demand for food in the local area shows no signs of easing.
The number of families served by the food bank run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has nearly doubled over the past year to nearly 90 families per month, said Stephanie Aiken, president of the Catholic relief organization. Last year, that number stood at 50.
As the winter season approaches, the number of individuals and families needing this help starts to climb, which puts a strain on the Society's food bank, Aiken added. Each month, the Catholic charity puts together boxes of food to provide enough to furnish up to four meals per family.
That monthly demand continues to clear out the pantry's shelves with limited amounts of canned and non-perishable food left behind to deal with emergency situations. However, the donations the Society received over the weekend helped restock those depleted shelves for now.
But Aiken added that the demand will pick up again when schools go on holiday break because children that receive free or reduced price meals at school won't have access to these meals. Families have to find ways to keep their children fed until school resumes, she said.
Each month, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides two programs to help families in the local area. The first is scheduled for this Monday when it hosts its monthly community dinner Monday evening.
On Tuesday, the charity organization will open its pantry and soup kitchen from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The free meal is open to families and individuals, regardless of age.
Aiken said that she's seeing more instances where teens are coming to the community dinners and soup kitchen events each month. Among them is a 16 year old girl who brings her siblings each month to ensure they are able to enjoy a complete meal.
When the weather in southern Idaho gets colder, families with limited income are faced with the tough choice of putting food on their table or keep the heat on in their homes, Metzer said.
"You can't live off of minimum wage," she added.
In the case of senior citizens, it's a matter of wanting to eat or being able to pay for their prescription medicines, Metzer said.
In recent years, food prices have steadily increased with people struggling to make their limited dollars stretch. For those living on this "financial edge," agencies like St. Vincent de Paul are working with people to help them stretch the limited dollars they have to spend.
"It's all the expensive stuff that's hard to buy," Aiken said in a previous interview with the Mountain Home News. "A can of soup costs 50 cents, but a pound of beef runs $1.79."
When the money runs out, it just gets worse. In 2014, Aiken recalled one home visit where a family of four was looking at living off a single loaf of bread until the food pantry opened a week later. It's instances like this where organizers are willing to open the pantry to give these people emergency provision to get them through.
If faced with the choice of paying a bill or putting food on the table, Aiken urged people to pay their bill and come to one of the food pantries for help.
Despite the demand for food through local area, food pantries here continue to meet this need, said Cristella Ramirez, county coordinator with the El-Ada Community Action Agency.
"Mountain Home is a town that pulls together and contributes when it is needed," Ramirez said.
The current challenge is ensuring families here have enough food on their tables so they can celebrate the holiday season. To avoid putting undue strain on each food bank here, El-Ada and Grace Lutheran developed a partnership where they each take turns putting together holiday food baskets for needy residents.
El-Ada provides food baskets before Thanksgiving with Grace Lutheran handing out a separate food basket before Christmas.
"Whatever we lack, they help us out with that, and whatever they lack we help them out," Ramirez said. "That really helps out that we are each taking one of the holidays."
On Friday, El-Ada expects to provide Thanksgiving meals to at least 150 families in the local community. Those meals are expected to include a turkey along with stuffing, beans, yams and cranberries.
To help meet this anticipated holiday demand, airmen from Mountain Home Air Force Base are expected to gather at El-Ada earlier that morning to prepare each of these holiday food baskets.
Ramirez expects that her agency will hand out most of the food they've collected specifically for Thanksgiving. Any food that remains, including packages of cake and brownie mix, will go to the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry to help that agency start work on its Christmas meal preparations in time for its December distribution.
Despite signs that the economy in communities across southern Idaho are showing signs of improving, El-Ada hasn't seen any change in the number of people and families it helps each month with emergency food provisions, Ramirez said. Currently, that monthly figure stands at 150 families, which hasn't changed much in recent months.
"We're not seeing any signs of it tampering off," Ramirez added.
Meanwhile, the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry expects to see at least 220 families stand in line when it provides boxes of food during its regularly scheduled distribution today, Nov. 18. That's 50 additional families than it normally sees other times of the year, Metzer said.
Despite the support prior to the holidays, representatives from each of the local the food banks emphasized that the demand doesn't end after the holidays. They will continue to collect non-perishable food to meet the demand well into the new year.
But for now, the shelves at local area food banks are full once again.