Salvation Army Seeks To Restock Pantry
August 23, 2016 at 6:53 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The shelves had minimal amount of items on them as of Friday. Administrative Assistant Melissa Cunningham posted on the The Salvation Army Corps’ Facebook page that all it had were canned vegetables, beans, egg product, salmon “and not much else.”
By Monday afternoon people began sharing the post, and churches, individuals and organizations began making donations. The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary brought in 237 pounds of food, the Silver Lake Food Pantry brought in 100 pounds of bread, an anonymous individual provided around 200 pounds of food and several churches also gave.
But more is still needed to continue to help feed local low-income families.
Ken Locke, Salvation Army community ministries director, said, “We have seen a spike in the number of people coming in for help.”
In July, the Salvation Army helped 237 families, that’s up about 5 percent over the same time in 2015, he estimated.
“That’s not a drastic increase, but obviously when you’re low, any increase is an increase,” Locke stated. “We’re primarily seeing single parents with children, seniors and veterans. We’ve seen quite a few veterans, too.”
He said single parents don’t have enough money coming in to buy all the food they need and senior citizens are on a fixed income.
“I think, on the veterans, I don’t know exactly on that one. Maybe it’s because they are more willing to tell us they’re veterans, too. That’s kind of changed a little bit over the years,” Locke said.
Sometimes when the shelves are nearly empty, with just the bare necessities like corn and beans, families will decline assistance because they see there’s not much there.
Locke said The Salvation Army has the basics like canned vegetables, but past that, they need “everything.” Cunningham said they need peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, pasta sauce all the basics plus canned goods.
Donations may be dropped off from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, but a person can call if they need to drop off donations at another time. The telephone number is 574-267-5361.
The time of year may be playing a part in why the Salvation Army is seeing an increase in families seeking assistance now.
“You’re hitting that end of the summer, right before the start of the school year, parents are strapped,” Locke said.
Cunningham said they still have parents coming in asking for shoe vouchers so they can get their children shoes for school.
“We were able to help quite a few kids for school. We helped 294 kids for school shoes this year,” Locke said.
With September being Hunger Awareness Month, in cooperation with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, Locke said Sept. 25 is Hunger Awareness Sunday for Kosciusko County. The Crop Hunger Walk also is Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m.
“Those two things are through the Ministerial Association, but it starts and stops here at the Salvation Army,” Locke explained. “But that’s to raise awareness of hunger around the world, and then also hunger here in Kosciusko County.”
While Locke said the number of families needing assistance in Kosciusko County hasn’t grown dramatically, “You definitely have the working poor now. That’s what has really changed now. And then the effect on seniors, too.”
He said there’s been a lot of cuts in Food Stamps over the last year, so that’s probably affected many of the people the Salvation Army has seen over the last year.
“You keep hearing on the news that there’s these record number of people on Food Stamps, but I have people coming in and saying they’ve been cut on it. They still may be on it, but I think their amounts have gone done,” Locke said.
According to an Aug. 29, 2015, Associated Press article, “Food pantries and social service agencies across Indiana are bracing for the possibility that up to 50,000 people could lose food stamp benefits this fall unless they comply with a change in federal work and job training requirements.
“Indiana had suspended Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) requirements for able-bodied adults who don’t have dependents under a 2009 waiver because of high unemployment during the recession. But come November, those rules will be reinstated and recipients could lose an average of $125 a month in benefits if they fail to work a certain number of hours or participate in a training program.”
The article also states, “Under the requirements, able-bodied SNAP recipients ages 18 to 49 without dependents would need to work an average of 20 hours per week, participate in an approved job training program or meet other requirements, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. If not, benefits would be limited to three months in a 36-month period.”
The Salvation Army goes by state guidelines in providing assistance. Locke said that’s the basic guidelines and they don’t want anyone to go hungry.
“Definitely, around the world, you see it on the news all the time, there’s always a need, there’s always a hunger situation. The Salvation Army serves all around the world, so we’re trying to address that through Salvation Army’s agencies,” Locke said.
The shelves had minimal amount of items on them as of Friday. Administrative Assistant Melissa Cunningham posted on the The Salvation Army Corps’ Facebook page that all it had were canned vegetables, beans, egg product, salmon “and not much else.”
By Monday afternoon people began sharing the post, and churches, individuals and organizations began making donations. The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary brought in 237 pounds of food, the Silver Lake Food Pantry brought in 100 pounds of bread, an anonymous individual provided around 200 pounds of food and several churches also gave.
But more is still needed to continue to help feed local low-income families.
Ken Locke, Salvation Army community ministries director, said, “We have seen a spike in the number of people coming in for help.”
In July, the Salvation Army helped 237 families, that’s up about 5 percent over the same time in 2015, he estimated.
“That’s not a drastic increase, but obviously when you’re low, any increase is an increase,” Locke stated. “We’re primarily seeing single parents with children, seniors and veterans. We’ve seen quite a few veterans, too.”
He said single parents don’t have enough money coming in to buy all the food they need and senior citizens are on a fixed income.
“I think, on the veterans, I don’t know exactly on that one. Maybe it’s because they are more willing to tell us they’re veterans, too. That’s kind of changed a little bit over the years,” Locke said.
Sometimes when the shelves are nearly empty, with just the bare necessities like corn and beans, families will decline assistance because they see there’s not much there.
Locke said The Salvation Army has the basics like canned vegetables, but past that, they need “everything.” Cunningham said they need peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, pasta sauce all the basics plus canned goods.
Donations may be dropped off from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, but a person can call if they need to drop off donations at another time. The telephone number is 574-267-5361.
The time of year may be playing a part in why the Salvation Army is seeing an increase in families seeking assistance now.
“You’re hitting that end of the summer, right before the start of the school year, parents are strapped,” Locke said.
Cunningham said they still have parents coming in asking for shoe vouchers so they can get their children shoes for school.
“We were able to help quite a few kids for school. We helped 294 kids for school shoes this year,” Locke said.
With September being Hunger Awareness Month, in cooperation with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, Locke said Sept. 25 is Hunger Awareness Sunday for Kosciusko County. The Crop Hunger Walk also is Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m.
“Those two things are through the Ministerial Association, but it starts and stops here at the Salvation Army,” Locke explained. “But that’s to raise awareness of hunger around the world, and then also hunger here in Kosciusko County.”
While Locke said the number of families needing assistance in Kosciusko County hasn’t grown dramatically, “You definitely have the working poor now. That’s what has really changed now. And then the effect on seniors, too.”
He said there’s been a lot of cuts in Food Stamps over the last year, so that’s probably affected many of the people the Salvation Army has seen over the last year.
“You keep hearing on the news that there’s these record number of people on Food Stamps, but I have people coming in and saying they’ve been cut on it. They still may be on it, but I think their amounts have gone done,” Locke said.
According to an Aug. 29, 2015, Associated Press article, “Food pantries and social service agencies across Indiana are bracing for the possibility that up to 50,000 people could lose food stamp benefits this fall unless they comply with a change in federal work and job training requirements.
“Indiana had suspended Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) requirements for able-bodied adults who don’t have dependents under a 2009 waiver because of high unemployment during the recession. But come November, those rules will be reinstated and recipients could lose an average of $125 a month in benefits if they fail to work a certain number of hours or participate in a training program.”
The article also states, “Under the requirements, able-bodied SNAP recipients ages 18 to 49 without dependents would need to work an average of 20 hours per week, participate in an approved job training program or meet other requirements, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. If not, benefits would be limited to three months in a 36-month period.”
The Salvation Army goes by state guidelines in providing assistance. Locke said that’s the basic guidelines and they don’t want anyone to go hungry.
“Definitely, around the world, you see it on the news all the time, there’s always a need, there’s always a hunger situation. The Salvation Army serves all around the world, so we’re trying to address that through Salvation Army’s agencies,” Locke said.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092