At a time of year when having food on the table for family holiday gatherings is critical, there are two pieces of good news.
One, with the federal shutdown ending over a week ago, government assistance plans like SNAP are back up and running after the fear that they would stop all together.
And two, thanks to the effort of Pantry Planters, which provides resources, training and assistance to organizations, faith-based efforts — and now, schools — there is a network of 52 pantries up and running across the county.
But, on the flip side, it’s going to take a couple weeks for federal programs to ramp back up to full operation — doesn’t do a lot for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday. And, Pantry Planters Director Tammi Madison, said the number of recipients of food at those pantries has doubled.
“We got even more strained at a time of year when we’re already strained. My phone has been ringing a lot more,” she said. “But we’ve had a significant increase in the area (in those wanting to donate to food pantries) and been supported by non-profits and businesses at Thanksgiving, and many said they want to do the same at Christmas.”
A new source of support has surfaced — the schools, with a number of them getting on board with Madison’s team to create pantries that can directly help students in school.
“We’ve opened 10 pantries at school district locations, and seven of them were opened because of the SNAP shutdown,” she said. “Through food drives we were able to secure 100 pounds of canned hams we’ve been able to distribute to families.”
She noted that these added provisions do not affect any government assistance families receive.
“This is bonus food. We just want children to be able to take food home to mom and dad for supper,” she said.
Madison said she had a commitment from School District of Osceola County Superintendent Dr. Mark Shanoff that he wanted to put a pantry in every district school.
So how can those who have plenty, and the means to do, help those in the community at the other end of the scale?
“Make monetary donations to our pantries, so they can go out and get the items they specifically need,” Madison said.
Find a list of those pantries at pantryplanters.org/pantries.
