Food pantries could close for lack of volunteers
August 23, 2017
By Kara McMurray Whitman County (Colfax) Gazette reporter August
23, 2017
Every month, pantries around Whitman County distribute
45,000 pounds of food to more than 800 families which total about 2,000 people.
This service happens once a month in most of the rural communities of the
county and twice a month in Colfax.
And it may be on the verge of disappearing.
“That really could be a reality, losing the pantries,” said
Paige Collins, executive director at the Council on Aging in Colfax.
Collins said she is worried for the future of Whitman County
food pantries with a lack of volunteers and nobody to step up to run them.
“The majority of our pantries are run by folks of mature age.
People who are 40 to 60 years old are working and not in town to help out,” she
said. “They’re not there anymore because everyone’s working. I’m really stumped
as to how we motivate and find the next generation of people to run it.”
Ashley Vaughan, Palouse Fresh Food Project coordinator
through the Center for Civic Engagement at WSU, said she has become concerned
over the potential of losing food pantries, too.
“There are some pantries where the pantry lead volunteers
have been running the pantry for years, and when they leave, there isn’t anyone
that is willing to take it over,” she said.
The potential of losing a food pantry has become a big
reality in Garfield, where the pantry is currently administered by James
Woomack of Farmington. Woomack found himself involved with the pantry there a
few years ago, and not long after, he was the one in charge.
“I’ve been involved for better than four years, but been
running it for about two,” he said. “I just went in one day when LaJeanne
Proctor was running it, and I asked her if she needed help. She signed me right
up.”
Woomack said he and his wife do have some volunteers for the
pantry, but many of them, like the Woomacks, do not actually live in Garfield.
“Most of the people who are deeply involved are from other
towns,” he said.
He noted that one volunteer, Penny Martinez, is from Pullman
and deeply involved, but she is also a WSU student and started classes again
this week at the university. She will not be as available to help as much as
she has in the past. Woomack does have other volunteers, but he is unsure of
being able to find someone to take over the operation.
“James Woomack is now working full-time and trying to step
down,” said Collins. “They can find help in a pinch, but nobody to be the
lead.”
“I’m getting to the point with other obligations that I just
can’t do it,” said Woomack. “The pantry, without help, it’s in danger. We’re
doing our best to keep it running.”
Woomack said he spends about five days a month operating the
pantry between gathering and sorting the food and the distribution day, as well
as the necessary government paperwork to report how much.
Woomack is also a member of the LaDow Grange, which
currently sponsors the pantry. To remain in operation, the pantry needs to be
sponsored by a 501c3 organization, and the grange may soon close.
“I can’t get any support from the Grange,” he said. “I have
to have officers nominated by September, or it closes in October.”
The American Legion, Woomack said, is willing to step up to
be the sponsor of the pantry, but there is still concern that there will not be
a pantry to sponsor.
“That doesn’t solve my volunteer problem,” he said.
The reality of a closed pantry has already been felt in one
Whitman County community. In August of 2016, the Rosalia pantry closed
indefinitely due to a lack of volunteers, high utility bills and some
volunteers abusing the pantry’s space by leaving it a mess.
“I’d really like to find a place to start it up again,” said
Rosalia Mayor Nanette Konishi.
Konishi has been working on the pantry issue for a year now,
and she said this week she hopes she may be close to a resolution.
“I’m thinking of maybe opening up the community center again
for it, but I have to bring that before the town council first,” she said.
The pantry at one point operated out of the community
center, but it later moved to the Baptist church. The high utility bills
related to the pantry operation were one of the reasons that it became an
unrealistic location.
“I’d like to be able to do that (move the pantry to the
community center) early in the fall,” said Konishi. “It would take moving a
freezer and taking the steps to get it going again.”
One thing communities may not realize, Woomack said, is how
much the different organizations in a town rely on one another. In Garfield,
for example, the Grange sponsors the pantry, but is in danger of closing. The
American Legion hosts the monthly community lunch at the Legion hall on the
third Thursday of the month, and that is sponsored by the Methodist church. The
Methodist church, however, could be closing in December, and the monthly meal
may not be able to continue without a sponsor.
Woomack said the Grange could take over sponsorship, but the
Grange needs to remain viable for that to happen.
“These groups are interdependent, and then the community is
interdependent on them also,” said Woomack. “The community just sees them as
individual entities, but they just don’t realize how all interdependent they
are.”
Mayor Konishi said she is unsure why it is so difficult to
find volunteers.
“I wish I understood why it’s hard for people to get
involved in something that is so critically important,” she said.
Konishi said she is not sure if the food pantry in Rosalia
needs to be sponsored by a 501c3 like in Garfield, but she said there are some
options available if that is needed. She said she will be researching the
matter.
Woomack said he wants to get across to the community how
important the food bank is. He said there about 55 to 60 families served out of
it monthly.
“They need the food bank because for some of them it’s the
only food they get each month,” he said.
Lack of volunteers, he said, is a problem he knows can have
a solution, if people step up.
“I’m sure there is enough that could step in if they chose
to,” said Woomack. “It’s not impossible, it’s just somebody needs to have the
dedication to do it.”
With his other obligations and Martinez being back in
school, the need for an administrator and volunteers for the pantry is
imminent.
“Penny and I are going to run it until December,” he said.
After December, the future of the pantry is up in the air.
Woomack said there are some people who are potentially interested in operating
the pantry, but he is not sure if it will work out or not.
As for the Grange, he said he really needs people to step up
to fill the officer positions. He holds two positions.
“I’m currently the treasurer and the secretary,” said
Woomack. “Those positions are supposed to be a check and balance, not held by
the same person.”
There are three other officers right now, but they will not
all be continuing in their positions.
“I can’t do it myself,” said Woomack. “I would need six
members to fill positions that should be filled by separate people.”
Woomack said anyone interested in serving as an officer
should find the LaDow Grange on Facebook, or contact him (509-287-2001) or
Martinez (509-635-0150).
Collins said she wants to remain optimistic on the future of
pantries, but she is not sure what to think right now.
“It could really be a problem in the next two to three
years. We could really be losing the pantries,” she said. “There are a lot of
the pantry administrators saying, ‘If I left there’d be no one to do this.’”
She noted that the Council on Aging supports the county
pantries with commodities, and people could be served out of the Colfax pantry,
but she does not want that to become the reality.
“There could be just Colfax and Pullman left,” she said.
“But people can’t afford the gas to get to Colfax.”
Konishi said she does not want to see this become the
permanent reality either.
“If I’m not using the pantry myself, I don’t see the direct
effect, but I know people are struggling more than usual (without the pantry),”
she said. “They have to get rides to Colfax, and that just doesn’t work all the
time.”
Vaughan said she will be continuing to work with the Council
on Aging, the Whitman County Food Coalition and the various pantries to address
the issues and come up with ideas.
Collins said that looking at how many people are served
across 12 pantries in the county, she knows so many people cannot afford to
lose this service.
“There’s definitely a lot of need,” she said. “It used to be
that people said it would work itself out, but that’s not the case anymore.”
