The choice pantry, paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, allows shoppers to select the food items that best meet their household’s needs, just like shopping in a grocery store, according to the pantry’s Facebook post.
The red card system ― in addition to the monthly full pantry visit ― is where neighbors can stop by weekly for the surplus items such as fresh produce, baked goods and other extra donations.
The change to the choice system will help eliminate waste and decrease spending, said Pam Benson, the director and founder of the Village Food Pantry.
However, these changes were also due to the national cuts to food banks, Benson said, which has limited the amount of produce she receives.
In March, the Department of Agriculture cut roughly $500 million from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which buys food directly from farmers and sends it to pantries nationwide, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
The cuts came from President Donald Trump administration’s push to decrease federal spending.
These cuts were causing a decrease in the amount of goods the pantry received, so to have more control over their supply, Benson said they made the change back to the choice system so people only grab what they need and there’s no waste.
“It’s dwindling down to us,” Benson said. “Because 90% of our food comes from Shared Harvest. So when they’re cut, we’re cut. So that’s really another reason why we had to change over.”
Not only will the reinstated choice system help the pantry financially, it also relieves the volunteers from one of their more laborious duties ― taking groceries out to cars.
Benson said they became a strictly drive-thru pantry when COVID hit, but now, “it’s rough, hard work on everybody because you’re doing so much double work with the process that we’re doing now.”
The pantry has 40 volunteers that help serve the roughly 400 clients or “neighbors” every week.
Four of Benson’s volunteers are older than 80, including her mother, Mary McNeal, who has been volunteering at the food pantry for the 20 years it‘s been open, Benson said.
“I love the pantry. I love helping my daughter,” McNeal said. “... It’s just a blessing to everybody. It blesses everybody. It really does. We have a lot of clients, and they are so grateful and so thankful. So I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Carl Ray Pickle, or Butch, is a Vietnam War veteran who has volunteered at the pantry for 14 years delivering food to those who can’t make the trip.
“One lady came all the way down here on the electric scooter, and she almost got hit three or four times,” Pickle said. “I told her. I said, ‘This is it. You’re not going to do it anymore. I’ll bring it to you.’ I’ve been doing it for about six years now, and I enjoy it.”
The Village Food Pantry does not have a delivery service option. Benson said Pickle is doing it out of his own volition.
The pantry, located at 617 B North Riverside Drive in Hamilton, will now be open four days a week from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. to noon. on Friday.
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