Pantries help residents deal with inflation and do what they need to do to make progress in life
When inflation started taking a bite out of earnings for residents of Catholic Charities affordable housing sites, the agency opened a set of food pantries so clients could stay healthy and have what it takes to keep moving forward in life.
A resident of Catholic Charities housing enters a community room to obtain food.
Residents have expressed relief.
“I’d like to thank you for offering the food pantry here in our community,” says a resident named Frank. “It continues to make a difference every month. There are some things that my son and I cannot purchase as food prices continue to increase. And I’m very grateful for being able to obtain those items at the food pantry. Summertime is especially important as my son is growing and eats from morning till night.”
A 67-year-old resident of Catholic Charities senior housing said her doctor was after her to gain weight. After the pantry opened, she put on a needed 10 pounds.
“My doctor was so happy with me,” she says. “I told them that it was all thanks to the food pantry — that’s the only thing in my life that’s changed. I can afford to eat well now.”
There are seven monthly pantries, each held at a Catholic Charities affordable housing site in the Portland area. The weekly pantry is held at a housing site close to Catholic Charities headquarters.
“Increasingly Catholic Charities has realized it’s essential that we provide food pantries at our affordable housing,” says Sally Erickson, Community Services Director. “We want our families to be healthy, we want to reduce stress, we want to have a vibrant community where children can thrive in school. That takes a lot of things, including healthy food.”
Erickson says that people with disabilities usually must make do with a monthly SSI payment of $943. That’s supposed to pay for everything – rent, food, shoes, clothes.
In the past several years, Catholic Charities workers heard from more and more residents that money ran out well before month’s end. The families and people with disabilities asked for help. Especially out of reach were healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables.
“The price of groceries will likely only increase in the near future and food access will continue to be a major problem for many individuals and many families that we serve,” says Beatrice Endler,” Health Outreach Supervisor for Catholic Charities. “Our goal is to continue to bolster the number of donations that we receive so we can provide more food and ultimately feed more people.”
Recipients may be refugees or people transitioning out of homelessness or families with young children.
Nancy leaves the pantry with supplies.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that the pantry is life-changing for my residents,” says one resident services coordinator, a Catholic Charities staffer who tends to needs of all kinds at affordable housing sites. “I received a thank you card from a resident who said that he saves 40% a month on groceries because of the pantry.”
The pantry started small but now serves more than 500 households per month.
“I started with one volunteer — just my mom,” Endler says with a laugh. “Eventually we’ve built that out to about 82 volunteers.”
“It takes a lot of planning and organizing,” said Sarah Joan Salvador, food pantry coordinator.
Resident service coordinators gauge the amount of food needed, then Salvador picks up from various suppliers.
Driving south on 82nd Avenue, she spies a taco truck, the landmark for her turn to the food warehouse kept by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That community provides large amounts of food.
The LDS warehouse crew, in large part retired men, work hard and joke hard.
Each Friday, Salvador drives to Clackamas County to pick up about 75 loaves from Dave’s Killer Bread. The famed Oregon company sells high-quality and nutritious fare.
Sarah Joan Salvador, food pantry coordinator, loads donated loaves at Dave’s Killer Bread.
Other major donors are CityTeam Portland, Pacific Coast Fresh and Oregon Food Bank.
With a full cargo van, Salvador arrives at the pantry sites. At places like the St. Francis Park Apartments in Southeast Portland, a ready and willing resident crew unloads the food and sets up the pantry efficiently and with good cheer.
Volunteers at the warehouse run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints load the Catholic Charities van with supplies for food pantries.
The pantries run on the shopping model, in which residents pick what they need. That cuts down on waste. Residents have been shy about filling their bags, but staff encourage them to take what they need. The pantries try to offer Halal and Kosher foods.
“It’s very nice to know that we are making an impact on our clients’ lives,” says Endler. “And making it easier for them to not only access food but to access healthy food because that’s one of our biggest goals.”