Madison County Food Pantry prepares for busy month in wake of SNAP freeze

Last month, The Madison County Food Pantry saw its highest number of recipients yet. With the suspension of SNAP during the government shutdown, they are expecting more.

Food Pantry President Don Patton said he saw 364 families in October — almost 100 more than average, feeding over 900 people. The food pantry, located on Sargent Drive across from the high school, is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

A longer line than usual stood outside on Tuesday than volunteers are accustomed to. But each volunteer has a role to play in packing the donations for the food pantry.

“We started preparing as soon as we heard,” Patton said. He said he stocked up on extra essentials: a thousand pounds of oranges and potatoes, and thousands of eggs, and lots of meat. “We’ve been getting donations from farmers.” 

In October, the government shutdown over the spending bill which Democrats want to include an extension of health insurance credits and a reversal of Medicaid cuts.

Government services, and programs like SNAP have been paused, which helps supplement up to one-fifth of Madison County Residents according to a report. Many members receive about $200 for food, if they are below an income requirement. 

Although Mo. Gov. Mike Kehoe announced partial funding recently, it is unclear how far it will go, how much it will pay, or how long it will last.

The shelves are lined with either bags, boxes, or the food that fills them up: baguettes, bananas, potatoes, strawberries, peppers and meats of all shapes and sizes. Before noon, the six or so volunteers unpack all of them from different sources, like Walmart, or donors, or the government.

Volunteers spend the rest of the afternoon packing and carrying bags to meet the growing line. At the front, Patton awaits recipients, greets them, fills out a sheet, and a volunteer appears with a box for the recipient to take home.

“A lot of times Don can buy a bag of rice for 19 cents a pound,” volunteer Cathy Melby says. So even small donations, at those prices, can feed dozens of people. She works on the Menards bags of “government commodities.” Stacked next to her are dozens of bags of flour.

Each recipient gets one of the government commodity bags, and then bags of donations based on their family size. The meat is scaled up on a chart. Families of 3 or more get hot dogs, for example.

Patton said the government commodities come from Sikeston, from the Department of Human Resources through the Emergency Food Assistance Program. “They divide [food] out to the food banks and the food banks divide it out to all those different agencies,” like the Madison County Food Pantry.

“There was a group of church ladies who just walked in and handed [Don] a check of $500,” Melby says. “We had three more checks from other churches, and this isn’t a typical deposit, but I’m depositing over $2,000 today.” 

Melby, who has volunteered for nearly a decade, said donations of food and cash tend to increase around the holiday.

Volunteer Jeff Bradley started some years into his retirement. “I was raised with my mom and dad and I know what it’s like,” he said. “We didn’t hardly have food, and I enjoy doing it.”

Bradley works in the donations section, much of the food stocking the shelves are from Walmart. His wife works at Walmart, and helps secure donations there instead of watching good food copiously crushed.

“She gets onto them,” Bradley said. “They throw one banana away and she says, ‘We can donate that.’” Some of the shelves near Bradley were full of bananas.

Vice President Brenda Meyers held a chart listing the weights of food donation. With the weekend donations, they raised 400 pounds of produce, 50 pounds of meat, and 370 pounds of bakery products. The numbers start to shrink throughout the week, until Saturday again, when shipments arrive.

The weekend routine of receiving and unpacking culminates in two cornucopias a week. This month will most likely be busy. In the best scenario, the government will resolve its shutdown, and it won’t be.