Located at the Stouder Center, the former Stouder Memorial Hospital building on Wayne Street in Troy, for the past two years, the food pantry is on track to serve 6,800 households this year. That is an increase from 2,523 in 2021 and 3,735 households in 2022.
“We anticipate we will have served more than 1,000 new families this year. In 2021, we saw 113 new families; (in) 2022, 629 new families. We thought then we were at the peak,” Hemm said.
The increases are being seen by all social service agencies such as those dealing with health care and related needs, she said.
“No one sees this coming to an end any time soon,” Hemm said.
At First Place Food Pantry, clients are allowed a visit for food once each month. They need to bring a photo ID and proof of address such as a bill, letter from Social Security, etc. Recipients must live within Miami County.
Those who visit the pantry go through the drive-through where they are greeted by volunteers and required information is checked. The volunteers will provide the items to include shelf-stable foods along with fresh vegetables, fruits, deli meat, bread, butter and other items. The food pantry works with Shared Harvest on providing food through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In addition to working to serve the growing number of clients, the food pantry has to deal with shortages of some items that are attributed to supply chain issues, failed crops, labor shortages and other factors, Hemm said.
“We are not out of food, we have food. We do not necessarily have the variety of food we used to have,” she said. Among current shortage items have been peanut butter and pasta sauce.
Shelf-stable donations are appreciated along with monetary donations that can be used to shop for items needed, Hemm said. Those items include personal care items — soap, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent, toothbrush — in addition to food and related products. Shelf-stable items should not have expired dates.
“We appreciate donations and can stretch a dollar,” Hemm said. “We prefer dollars but obviously appreciate both.” Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 81, Troy, Ohio, 45373.
Volunteers are a key to the successful pantry operation. More than 700 volunteer hours were provided in November. “Clearly, we could not do this without volunteers,” Hemm said.
The First Place Food Pantry is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 1-3 p.m.; Monday evenings, 5-6:30 p.m.; and Tuesday, 8:30 to 10 a.m.
More information is available on the organization’s Facebook page.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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