By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

Almost any given day, someone is gratefully getting groceries at one of more than a dozen food pantries in the Tri-County.

On Wednesday, one of those people was “Valentine,” who arrived at First Presbyterian Church in Corbin for a box of commodity food that will help supplement her groceries for the rest of the month.

“My first experience with God’s Pantry was when I lived in Lexington, when I was able to work and making pretty good money, I bought my first cookbook from them for $5,” said Valentine while she leaned on a cane and waited in the food pantry line. “And now that I’m on Social Security/ disability, I qualify for all this.”

“It cuts my grocery bill down,” she said.

First Presbyterian operates a food pantry two days a week — and almost all of the food they give out is purchased through God’s Pantry Food Bank. The food bank, with warehouses in Lexington and Prestonsburg, provides food to more than 350 programs and agencies in 49 counties of central and eastern Kentucky and serves nearly 159,000 individuals each year.

In the Tri-County alone, God’s Pantry distributed 975,257 pounds of food in 2007.

First Presbyterian is part of a collection of church and non-profit food pantries that work with Corbin United Effort, which acts as a clearing house to monitor clients through a computer program shared by all the local pantries.

This helps volunteers be sure that a few clients aren’t getting more than their fair share of goods, and prevents each individual pantry from having to run its own client financial checks.

By far, God’s Pantry supplies most of the commodity food accessed by CUE agencies.

In 2007, agencies represented by CUE purchased more than 667,500 pounds of food from God’s Pantry Food Bank for just more than $32,800. If it had been purchased through a retail outlet, the same food would have cost more than $1 million.

First Presbyterian alone spent $5,416 with God’s Pantry last year, and received $163,641 worth of food.

“We saved $158,000,” said volunteer Jane Wallace. “We’re good shoppers.”

That may sound like a lot — but God’s Pantry is trying to increase its penetration in the Tri-County, where the average pounds of food supplied per person in poverty is still lower than the organization’s overall average of 53 pounds per person.

In a nut shell, there are many Tri-County residents who qualify for help but don’t receive it.

In Knox County, where 29.1 percent of residents (9,201 people, according to the most recent survey data) live in classified poverty, God’s Pantry distributed 388,581 pounds of food in 2007. That equals about 42.23 pounds per person in poverty — lower than the organization’s average, but the highest in the Tri-County.

God’s Pantry distributed about 31.78 pounds of food per person in poverty in Laurel County, where 11,434 residents (or 20.4 percent of the population) live in poverty. In Whitley County, the pantry distributed about 23.88 pounds per person in poverty, where 9,353 people (25.3 percent) are considered in poverty.

“Our next target is for us to be at 81-82 pounds per person in poverty (in the Tri-County),” said Marian Guinn, chief executive officer for God’s Pantry Food Bank.

Part of the reason for low penetration in the Tri-County, Guinn said, could be that many residents are unaware help is available.

First-time client “Debbie” had never before heard of the local food pantry system until she recently sought assistance from CUE for her heating bill.

“I had went to Corbin’s United Effort to help out with my heating assistance and I found out about it down there,” Debbie said Wednesday. “That was my first time down there at CUE, and I didn’t know anything about the Corbin United Effort either, and I’ve lived here almost 44 years.”

Debbie said the food pantry will be a helpful supplement to her budget.

“I had a stroke, and it’s hard to pay my bills,” she said. “I do get my disability, but that don’t go far, because I have two children, 4 and 12... This place helps a lot. It’s getting to where everything (prices) is just so high.”

God’s Pantry is able to sell food so cheaply because it receives commodity foods — foods that the federal government purchases and distributes in order to support farm prices. In February, President Bush’s proposed FY2009 budget eliminated funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), and food bank organizations have lobbied for its inclusion.

The program currently receives $140 million annually, and about 88 percent of those enrolled in CSFP are senior citizens.

Nancy McKiddy, who’s been with Professional Home Health for 13 years, picks up meal boxes for her elderly clients that can’t leave the house.

“It helps them get through the month,” McKiddy said. “When they live on a fixed income and they have no other means coming in, by the time they pay their bills, go to the doctor and things like that, this helps them... It’s a great thing, this food pantry, and I know my patients are very thankful for it when they get it.”

Samantha Swindler can be reached at sswindler@thetimestribune.com

Giving Hope

Last year God’s Pantry Food Bank collected and distributed more than 13 million pounds of food to 350 non-profit agencies serving 49 central and eastern Kentucky counties. Nearly 3 million pounds of that food was fresh fruits and vegetables.

On the web

www.corbinsunitedeffort.org

www.GodsPantry.org

If you think you may qualify for assistance contact Corbin United Effort at 528-7523.